Extremely High

"Vegetation fire risk is extremely high." Colonel Steve Meyer of the CGDIS, Luxembourg's fire and rescue service, did not choose his words carefully. He chose them precisely. Firefighters were called out to seven separate vegetation fires on Sunday. Last week, they responded to 15. The week before that, the maximum was around five call-outs.[1]

The pattern is clear. Five fires in a normal week. Fifteen during a heatwave week. Seven on a single Sunday. The drought and high temperatures have turned Luxembourg's vegetation into fuel. The fire risk is expected to remain high until at least the end of the week.[1]

How they fight them

The goal is always to prevent the fire from spreading. In a second phase, the focus shifts to containing it. After that, the mop-up work on site is very labour-intensive, in order to fully extinguish the fire and make sure it is secured, so that it cannot flare up again, Meyer explained. In Luxembourg, the fires are mostly vegetation fires. Firefighters use so-called fire beaters to try to smother these blazes, particularly in locations where it is harder to access water.[1]

Fire beaters. Not hoses, not aircraft dropping retardant. Fire beaters, in a country that until recently had a maximum of five vegetation fires per week. The CGDIS is adapting to conditions it was not built for, with tools designed for a climate that no longer exists.[1]

Still coming

The CGDIS currently expects further vegetation fires to occur. As recently as Monday afternoon, a fire broke out in the Hoscheidt-Dick forest. Another fire broke out near the Rond-point Schinker, which required a large number of emergency responders on site. The CGDIS monitors the situation using various indices, analysed partly with MeteoLux, but also via the European Forest Fire Monitoring system.[1]

This morning, the forecast said thunderstorms would break the heatwave by Sunday. It also said strong winds would accompany the cooler air, gusts of 40 to 50 km/h, which could cause flames to spread more rapidly. The CGDIS is not waiting for the rain. It is expecting fires. The risk will remain extremely high until at least the end of the week. The breaking point, as noted this morning, is not the moment the temperature drops. It is the moment the last fire is out.[1]