From Friday, June 2, and throughout the summer period, Météo-France, with the support of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, will launch its “forest weather forecast”. A new tool, which will therefore join the “beach weather” or the “marine weather”, and which will inform “about the level of fire danger in mainland France”, indicates the government, on the site of the public service.
It will be launched on the occasion of Emmanuel Macron’s trip to the Gard to “prepare for the summer” with the actors in charge of firefighting. In October, he announced several measures “to prevent fires and strengthen the means of fighting, whether material or human”. In addition to this “forest weather”, the Head of State had mentioned new equipment or the doubling of columns of firefighter reinforcements. In 2022, 72,000 hectares, including 60,000 hectares of forests, went up in smoke in France.
This “Forest Weather” is purely for educational purposes. Because under the effect of global warming, a large part of the metropolitan territory is now vulnerable to forest and vegetation fires. It is therefore a question of informing and sensitizing the French “to the risk of fires so that they adopt the right reflexes to avoid the start of fires, in particular in the identified sensitive areas”, is it explained on the site.
This prevention and information tool is, today, essential, given that “nine out of ten fire starts are of human origin, and most started by carelessness”.
Each day, the “forest weather” will indicate, for the next day or the day after, “the level of fire danger by department”, on a scale of four colors, “understandable by all”. It will go from green (low risk) to red (very high risk), passing through yellow (moderate) and orange (high).
On the other hand, the “forest weather” will not inform about current or future fires.
This “forest weather” is going to be established using data on vegetation susceptibility to fire and spread once fire breaks out. Météo-France will use observations and forecasts of several meteorological parameters, such as “temperature, rain, wind strength or air humidity”, as well as “the state of drought vegetation “.
Tips to avoid starting fires will be indicated on this “forest weather forecast”, such as organizing a barbecue away from vegetation that can ignite or not smoking in the forest.