Halberstadt (dpa/sa) - In the first six months there were more than twice as many forest fires in Saxony-Anhalt as in the whole of 2021. From January to the end of June 2022, according to the state center for forests in Saxony-Anhalt, there were 80 fires in total almost 18 hectares. In the same period last year there were 24 fires on a good 12 hectares, in the entire previous year there were 39 fires on 23 hectares. The "Volksstimme" had previously reported about it.
Overall, there were many smaller fires, said Sylke Mattersberger from the Landeszentrum Wald on Monday of the German Press Agency. There were only a few larger fires.
The fact that there have been more fires so far this year is mainly due to the drought. It was significantly drier than last year, said Mattersberger. There has been a drought since March.
In many districts, forest fire risk level 4 (high risk) now applies, in some even level 5 (very high risk) will apply from Tuesday. Depending on the level of danger, monitoring is intensified and protective measures are initiated.
