Croatian forests calls for responsible behavior: 90 percent of fires caused by people

About ninety percent of fires are caused by people, warned the Croatian Forests agency on Thursday and called on citizens and tourists to behave responsibly and to call 193 or 112 if they notice any smoke.

"The fact that one conscious act of taking care of one's own behavior in the vicinity of forests can mean more than a series of year-round fire prevention measures, was demonstrated by the devastating fires that ravaged everything in front of them in recent weeks. Agricultural works in the form of an unextinguished beekeeper's smoke, a signal rocket fired on land during socializing on a boat and the remains of glass that burned dry vegetation with the sun's rays are just some of the triggers of this year's fires that can be reduced to one common denominator: human negligence," recalled Croatian Forests in a press release.

They point out that only a fire that was prevented was put out in time, and they estimate that around 90 percent of fires are caused by people.

16 million euros invested in fire protection, 220 cameras distributed in 110 locations in forests

This year, almost 16 million euros are being invested by Croatian Forests in fire protection. However, as they point out, there is no technology that can replace a moment of carelessness sufficient to start a fire that, after 30 days without rain, along with stormy winds and high temperatures, threatened houses as well.

They also point out that for the period from 2022 to 2025, they also acquired video surveillance with smoke and fire detection and a fire spread simulator that enables even better actions in cooperation with the operational forces of the civil protection system, especially Croatian Firefighters.

In total, there are 220 cameras distributed in 110 locations in forests, which is an increase of about 60 percent compared to last year.

An observation and reporting service for workers of Croatian forests in the karst area is also organized.

During the firefighting season, additional temporary workers are employed, almost 200 of them, in order to reduce the response time to observed smoke as much as possible. 72 contracts were also signed with Voluntary Fire Brigades, with which Croatian Forests finance monitoring and on-call activities.

In the past three years, 320 kilometers of new fire roads were built, while the 2,600 existing kilometers are maintained throughout the year, with patrols.

Croatian Forests notes that materials related to their campaign "Negligence is the first spark - Prevent a fire before it starts" can be found on their official website as well as on social networks.

Source: HRT