It burns, smokes and smokes – Germany becomes a forest fire country. Firefighter Jan Südmersen explains how the fire brigades prepare for it, why a forest fire is best extinguished at night and how it feels to stand in the middle of the flames star Conversation.
Mr. Südmersen, what can be solved better: a forest fire or a house fire?
A house has an address and a house number. When there is a forest fire, someone calls and says: “Somewhere in the forest there is a fire”. So you have to find the forest fire first – unless there is a huge column of smoke on the horizon.
The second problem is the spatial extent and the lack of clarity, especially in the case of a larger forest fire. The third point is limitation. In the worst case, a house burns down. The probability that an entire settlement will burn down is relatively small. But if you are not careful in the forest and cannot contain the fire, then the entire forest can burn down.