The Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) issued alerts about the increased risk of wildfires, recalling that May was the country’s driest month in 15 years due to the ongoing drought.
According to the DEMA, there were significantly more wildfire alerts in May than in the same month of previous years, reports Xinhua news agency.
Knud-Jacob Simonsen, emergency manager at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), drew parallels to the record-breaking summer of 2018.
“We already have a significant water deficit in the soil layers, equivalent to half the amount of rainfall we typically receive in an entire month of June. With bone-dry weather forecasts ahead, the situation resembles the drought-stricken summer of 2018,” he was quoted in a DEMA press release as saying.
The bone-dry conditions have prompted the nationwide wildfire supervision website Brandfare.dk to display orange in numerous areas across the country, urging people to exercise caution when using open fire outdoors.
Bjarne Nigaard, secretary general of the Danish Emergency Services, stressed the importance of collective efforts in preventing fire outbreaks.
“In recent weeks, the municipal emergency services have responded to more fires in nature than in previous years. It is important that everyone contributes and does what they can to prevent fires from occurring,” Nigaard said in the press release.
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