Lower Saxony relies on helicopters: forest firefighting rethought!

Lower Saxony relies on helicopters: forest firefighting rethought!

The summer of 2025 will show its forest fire-threatening side in Lower Saxony. The Interior Ministry has now decided to significantly increase its use of helicopters to fight forest fires. The state government is satisfied with the operational flexibility of the helicopters, while the stationed firefighting aircraft are no longer in use due to financial bottlenecks. NDR reports that this decision was also made after the experiences from a forest fire that lasted several days near Goslar.

Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) emphasizes the positive results achieved in fighting vegetation fires through the use of helicopters. These are not only more flexible, but can also land on makeshift landing pads, which significantly speeds up firefighting operations. According to information, it has been shown here that due to their shorter flight distances, helicopters can actually drop twice as much water as the firefighting aircraft that were stationed until recently.

Flexible and efficient

Lower Saxony is therefore taking a new course: n-tv highlights that in the last two years, when firefighting aircraft were stationed in Braunschweig, they were only used once in Saxony-Anhalt. Instead, the aircraft were mainly active abroad, which further questioned the efficiency of the fire-fighting measures in Lower Saxony. Another plus of the helicopters: According to reports, they can operate at several locations simultaneously, which can be worth its weight in gold in the critical phase of firefighting.

The Harz district is pursuing a special path and has secured a contract for a firefighting aircraft with a Polish provider until 2028. This makes it the only district in Germany that uses a combination of ground forces and a firefighting aircraft to fight forest and vegetation fires. The most recent extinguishing work in the Harz district has largely been completed, and the forest area on Königsberg near Goslar has also been reopened for safety reasons.

Planned training and support from the Bundeswehr

In order to further optimize this strategy, describes RBB24 the current training courses that the Bundeswehr is conducting in Brandenburg. There, Bundeswehr pilots are trained in fire-fighting technology so that they can come to the rescue in Lower Saxony if necessary. These regular exercises are essential in order to be able to work precisely with heavy loads.

The focus is clearly on an improved extinguishing strategy for the coming years. While the summer of 2023 was characterized by a rainy period, an increase in hot and dry summers is expected, which will increase the risk of forest fires. Lower Saxony is showing clear progress in its fire brigade strategy with the targeted use of helicopters and the building of capacities - true to the motto: Prevention is better than extinguishing.