Drought keeps wildfire risk high in Netherlands despite no recent large fires

Despite chronic drought across the Netherlands, no major wildfires have broken out in recent weeks. That could change quickly if the wind shifts, according to Edwin Kok, the national coordinator for natural fire management with the Dutch fire service.

“The risks have not yet been averted as long as there is no significant rainfall. And by that I mean weeks of precipitation,” Kok told Weeronline.

Several large fires did occur in April, including near ’t Harde and the Ederheide in Gelderland, on the Oirschotse Heide in North Brabant, and the Weerterheide in Limburg. Conditions at the time were extreme, Kok said. Fine vegetation, such as grasses, had died over the winter and became highly flammable.

Heavy rain in June allowed plants to grow, creating less severe conditions now than in April. Still, plants are beginning to suffer under successive heat waves and the extended lack of rain, which present major challenges, Kok said.

“If we were to get three or four days of easterly winds with low humidity now, I would be even more worried than I already am. The risks are certainly not yet averted,” he said.

Kok will spend time in Catalonia in the coming period to learn from firefighters there with the rest of the Dutch crew. The region currently has no large fires, though it did about a month ago.

According to Kok, Dutch crews are accustomed to extinguishing every inch of a fire, an approach that requires substantial manpower. In Catalonia, the approach is different: allow the center of a burned area to smolder while focusing all efforts on the edges to stop any flare-ups. That can involve clearing unburned trees and shrubs so no fuel remains for a new fire. When fuel is present, a fire can continue indefinitely, Kok learned.

He cited a 2020 peat fire on the Deurnese Peel as an example. It smoldered underground for two months. A layer of organic material on the ground—far more common in the Netherlands than in southern Europe—can allow a fire to persist for weeks or months. Firefighters are sometimes surprised by where the flames reappear above the surface.