In many regions of Bavaria it has been extremely dry for days or weeks. The first Bavarian municipalities have now taken precautions to ensure that midsummer fires do not accidentally degenerate into a forest fire.
The first Bavarian municipalities have taken precautions to ensure that a happy midsummer bonfire does not degenerate into a catastrophic forest fire. In the Upper Franconian Hof, for example, the operation of open fireplaces outdoors, “especially campfires, midsummer fires and fireplaces” is prohibited from this Wednesday until the end of August, as the city announced. “The reason for this is the high risk that the fire could spread uncontrollably due to the drought.”
For Hof, the German Weather Service had declared level five, the highest of all danger levels, for Wednesday. A high risk of forest fires (level four) is also expected for large parts of northern Bavaria. In the following days, the risk of forest fires will drop back to level three. But the grassland fire index rose to level four on Thursday in northern Franconia and on Friday everywhere in Bavaria with the exception of a north-south strip in the far west. The grassland fire index indicates the risk of non-shaded terrain with dead wild grass cover without green undergrowth catching fire.
That is why the city of Augsburg has pointed out that public barbecues are only permitted in the eleven areas specially designated for this purpose. “The grassy areas of the public barbecue areas and the adjacent wooded areas have already dried out. The risk of a fire from flying sparks or from the intense heat generated by the grills is currently very high,” the city explained. Only prolonged rain would ease the situation again.
The city of Bayreuth had already banned any outdoor fires last weekend because of the high risk of forest fires. “Even a spark or a discarded cigarette butt can ignite grass, needle litter and branches lying on the ground and trigger a serious fire,” warned the Upper Franconian municipality urgently. Even hot engines from parked cars can set grass on fire.