It is burning in the forest northwest of the road between Rynartice and Dolní Chřibská.
Initially, only the 2nd degree of fire alarm was declared for the fire. However, the firemen very soon adjusted it to the more serious level 3 and later to a special level of fire alarm.
Among other things, it is announced when it is necessary to deploy forces and resources from other regions and when an intervention requires the establishment of an intervention commander’s staff, the division of the site into sectors and sections and intensive coordination of all components of the IZS and other institutions.
11 units of firefighters were originally called to the scene, now there are 31 units in the area between Jetřichovice and Dolní Chřibská. Three helicopters are already intervening from the air. One police and two army.
“We have helicopters from the 24th base W-3A Sokol and Mi-17 with bambi bags in the air. We cooperate with other components of the integrated rescue system,” confirmed the deployment of army machines Petr Pešek from the press department of the Ministry of Defense.
Footage of the fire taken from the village of Sněžná near Krásná LípaVideo: Lenka Komárková, News
Firefighters gradually adjusted the information about the size of the affected area. At one point they were talking about an area of 900 hectares. In the end, they specified it to 100 hectares, or to an area of 1 square kilometer. “This is the latest information, confirmed by the chief of staff,” fire department spokesman Tomáš Kalvoda told Novinkám.
According to him, the original inflated figure is due to the survey using drones. “The drones originally indicated a perimeter of 3×3 kilometers. That’s how the information about 900 hectares was created. Then it was clarified directly by the fire brigade,” explained the spokesperson to Novinkám.
The Ministry of the Environment has already reacted to the situation in Czech Switzerland. Minister Igor Červený (Motorists) announced that he would convene a crisis team if necessary.
“We are communicating with all the intervening agencies and are continuously evaluating the situation. At the moment, all rescue agencies are working together to bring the fire under control as soon as possible. However, if the situation were to change, we are ready to react immediately, including convening a crisis team,” said Červený.
Photo: Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic
On Saturday, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute issued a warning about the increased risk of fire due to the drought. Their warning concerns a wide strip from the north of Bohemia, including the Bohemian Switzerland, to the south of Moravia.
In the summer of 2022, the largest forest fire in the modern history of the Czech Republic occurred in Bohemian Switzerland. It affected over 1060 hectares, lasted almost three weeks and its rapid spread was caused by extreme drought, heat and wind.
Another big fire in Liberecko
Firefighters in the north of Bohemia fought another big fire on Saturday afternoon. Near Chrastava in Liberecka, part of the forest between the local parts of Andělská Hora and Panenská Hůrka was on fire. It was a very complicated and sloping terrain. The area affected by the fire was 25 hectares in size, the second level of fire alarm was declared. 15 units fought the fire, shortly before 5 p.m. the fire was located and at 7:35 p.m. the liquidation of the event was announced.
The helicopter did not help with extinguishing here, the machines were at the fire in Bohemian Switzerland. However, it was very difficult for the fire engines to reach the fires in the complicated terrain. For example, volunteer firefighters from Bílé Kostel nad Nisou tried to get to the fire from Panenská Hůrka, but got stuck with their car on a narrow road on a slope between the last cottages. They couldn’t drive any further, and they had to backtrack with the fire truck and choose another route.
