Wernigerode (dpa/sa) – The Harz district is looking for a fire-fighting aircraft for the coming forest fire season. With the now launched, Europe-wide tender, a district council resolution from September will be implemented, the district announced on Thursday. The aim is to be able to start extinguishing forest and vegetation fires more quickly. “A firefighting aircraft is an unbeatable advantage in the Harz forests, which are often difficult to access and where the supply of extinguishing water is problematic in many places,” explained District Fire Chief Kai-Uwe Lohse.
The tender runs until January 25, 2023. According to the information, the district is expecting offers from service providers who will provide a fire-fighting aircraft for the period from April 1st to September 30th. It should be operational seven days a week from sunrise to sunset and be able to drop at least 2000 liters at a time.
The district of Harz is preparing for the next forest fire season in various areas: on Wednesday it announced that it would also use satellite monitoring to detect forest fires. In order to use a corresponding system, around 40,000 euros would be invested. District Administrator Thomas Balcerowski also addressed the Harz National Park on Thursday with the expectation that more firebreaks would be created by the start of the forest fire season.
The district of Harz was a focus of forest fires in Saxony-Anhalt this year. The most extreme fire: In the Harz National Park near Schierke, around 1,800 emergency services fought the flames for days at the beginning of September. The district declared a disaster because its own forces were no longer sufficient.
