Habitat analysis and risk mitigation measures
Yesterday, the Civil Protection Committee of the Capital Region and the Capital Region Fire and Rescue Service held a meeting with all stakeholders involved in wildfires in the region. The meeting marks the start of work to analyse vegetation areas and identify potential risk-reduction measures for each area.
The meeting marks the start of work on the analysis of vegetation areas.
Yesterday, the Capital Region Civil Protection Committee and the Capital Region Fire and Rescue Service held a meeting with all stakeholders involved in wildfires in the region, such as local councils, forestry associations, public health authorities and Veitur. The meeting marks the start of the capital region's municipalities' work on analysing vegetation areas within each municipality and possible risk-reducing measures for each area.
Cooperation between the main stakeholders involved with the green spaces in the capital region.
The green spaces in the capital region are heavily used for outdoor recreation; at the same time, they are the source of our drinking water, containing water protection zones. A fire in these areas would therefore have an even greater impact on the region, requiring even more intensive firefighting efforts. Disruption to weather patterns has various effects on society. One manifestation is fewer rainy days but greater intensity, which causes situations that have not previously arisen, such as occurred in the spring of 2021, when a wildfire burned in Heiðmörk, and elsewhere in the country, and a state of emergency was declared for the first time in the country due to wildfires. That spring, a collaboration began between the main stakeholders involved with the green spaces in the capital region. Signs were put up prohibiting the use of fire, and SMS fences were erected in green spaces to ban people from handling fire due to the conditions. Various parties have now undertaken significant preventative work, adding equipment and monitoring to be prepared for when conditions return to how they were in the spring of 2021, when it was very dry and new vegetation had not yet taken hold.
The aim is to prevent and reduce the consequences of fire.
Representatives from the Planning Authority and the Housing and Building Authority gave a presentation, where working groups have been addressing wildfires with various approaches. A representative from the Emergency Line spoke about the status of the TETRA system and telecommunications. A representative from Veitur reported on their work over the past few years regarding prevention, improved equipment, monitoring and further response. A representative from the Reykjavík Forestry Association reviewed the lessons learned from the 2021 Heiðmörk fire and what preparations the association has since put in place. A representative from the Reykjavík Environmental Health Authority described its involvement in such a fire, but as has been noted, most of the capital region's water protection areas are in forested areas. The work now moves to the local authorities, with the involvement of stakeholders and the Capital Region Fire and Rescue Service, which will hopefully ultimately have the effect of reducing the consequences of such fires in a variety of ways.