HS Environment | “What is here now will be in front of us in 20 years” – Finnish rescuers headed to Greece to fight wildfires

Due to climate change, the wildfire season in Greece has been extended by several months. In addition to offering help, Finnish rescuers are also learning.

As worn this summer, Europe has again seen numerous large wildfires and forest fires. To combat and extinguish them, Finnish rescuers have also been sent, who are stationed in the Greek Peloponnese region as part of the EU rescue service mechanism.

“This was realized through the EU rescue service mechanism, to which countries have been allowed to sign up. It must have been that Finland was the first to sign up for this,” the head of the Finnish department Peter Johansson tells from Greece.

According to Johansson, the Finns’ department has already been involved in extinguishing wildfires. However, the idea of ​​the operation is to ensure the adequacy of the rescuers in the reserve.

“In this way, it can be ensured that even if local forces have to be concentrated somewhere, the reserve will remain available if necessary. The Peloponnese is statistically very demanding and there are usually a lot of wildfires here. It’s been a little quieter now, which is of course an excellent thing that nothing is destroyed here.”

Finns has two important tasks in Greece, according to Johansson: helping and supporting the locals in extinguishing operations and learning.

“We are looking at what kind of equipment is used here. We have certainly already learned at this stage how we can develop our own forest fire equipment at home [Suomessa].”

According to Johansson, this is the first time that Finland is involved in activities of this scale.

Finns are in Greece during August in two rotations, each for half a month. The members of the group come from the rescue services of North and South Savo, North and South Karelia and Kymenlaakso, and according to Johansson, there are both professional rescuers and contract rescuers. Johansson and the group’s logistician, on the other hand, have been selected through the rescue college’s search.

Although According to Johansson, the conditions in Greece differ from the conditions in Finland in terms of wind and hilliness, among other things, and the lessons will also be used in the North. The background is climate change, which worsens extreme weather phenomena, such as drought.

“The local authorities have generally stated that what is here now will be in front of us in 20 years.”

“The forest and wildfire season has lengthened, as in principle in Finland, although spring was really late this year in Finland,” says Johansson.

According to him, the fire season in Greece used to be from around April to August and now even from March or February to October.

“Yes, the dry season is getting longer here and also here at home.”

In practice, extinguishing works are carried out according to the same safety-emphasizing principles in both Finland and Greece.

However, Johansson points out that the heat load in Greece is significantly higher than in Finland. Heat load refers to the load created by the body’s heat secretion, which increases as the air gets warmer.

According to the news agency Reuters, the fires have destroyed around 57,000 hectares of land in France alone this year. In the Gironde department in southwestern France, more than a thousand rescuers are fighting wildfires, and the fires are feared to worsen as a result of drought and high temperatures.

Hot conditions and little rain led to a drought being declared in parts of England on Friday, according to Reuters. In areas suffering from drought, for example, people are advised to use water sparingly, and water companies can also of The Guardian according to the declaration, for example, it is easier to prohibit the use of tap water in car washing.

Terrain roughened by wildfires in the Peloponnese region in Greece in August.

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