Waldbrand in Mala Kosuta: Jäger discovers flames at night!

Waldbrand in Mala Kosuta: Jäger discovers flames at night!

The fire fighting was challenging: The extremely steep and rough terrain makes the direct access to the fire site at around 1,700 meters above sea level. Therefore, the fire had to be deleted exclusively from the air, with a helicopter. An area of around 100 square meters of mountain pines that lay on rocky surfaces was affected. The suspected cause of the fire was identified as a lightning strike after a thunderstorm.

emergency services and supporters

For the fight against the fire, around 200 firefighters were deployed from various fire departments in the area. The following weirs were involved:

• Abtei
• Altendorf
• Bad Eisenkapppel
• Eberndorf
• Edling
• gablern
• Gallizien
• globasnitz
• Kühnsdorf
• Miklauzhof
• Rechberg
• Rückersdorf
• st. Michael ob Bleiburg
• st. Stefan under the Feuersberg
• stone in the Jauntal
• Unterbergen

A total of 26 vehicles were in use. In addition, the special services of the forest fire and flight service of the Carinthian State Fire Brigade Association were available.

challenges in fire fighting

The Situation in Mala Kosuta illustrates the frequent challenges that fire brigades are faced with fighting forest fires. Especially in difficult to access, the use of helicopters is often the only way to act effectively against the flames. However, these missions are not without risk, since factors such as poor visibility and changing air conditions can endanger the safety of the pilots.

In addition, it is crucial to use modern technologies for burning fire. In the future, data from satellites and drones will be used to identify fires faster and to shorten the response times. These approaches are also supported by research projects, such as the Evolonic project at the University of Erlangen, which deals with drone systems for the quick detection of forest fires.

innovations in extinguishing technology

In order to further increase the efficiency of fire fighting, new extinguishing technologies are being worked on. The Fraunhofer EMI, in cooperation with Caurus Technologies GmbH, develops a new process that optimizes the use of water when extinguishing. Studies show that the size of the water droplets and their Position have significant influence on the success of the extinguishing work. The goal is to lower the temperatures under the inflammation point and to withdraw the oxygen.

These new procedures could enable faster combating vegetation fires in the future and multiply the efficiency of water use. Such innovations could play a crucial role, especially in the prevention and combating of forest fires that occur more and more in Europe and beyond.