The effects of climate change can be felt all over the world. The risk of forest fires has also increased considerably at the Allentsteig military training area in recent years due to drought, bark beetle infestation of the forests and the resulting deadwood.
In the previous year, there were already large-scale fires at the military training area, the effects of which were also felt by the civilian population in the surrounding communities, for example in the form of heavy smoke. In response to this, fire management at the Allentsteig military training area is constantly being further developed, especially as active firefighting has only been possible to a limited extent to date, as around half of the area is at acute risk from unexploded ordnance. According to the applicable safety regulations, firefighting work on these areas may only be carried out with suitable fragmentation-protected fire engines. These were not previously available. In order to improve the situation, a number of measures have been introduced in recent years. For example, the security personnel at the military training area continuously carry out a multi-stage forest fire risk assessment procedure in cooperation with foresters and ecologists. The basis for this is the evaluation of meteorological data from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. The current risk of forest fires can thus be roughly estimated several days in advance. The direct reaction to this assessment is to restrict the use of certain types of ammunition and even to cancel shooting exercises.
Since 2020, highly modern, partially remote-controlled mine clearance vehicles (MV10, Hydrema) have also been used to create firebreaks. This is intended to prevent the spread of fire from open land into the forest. So far, a total of around 60 kilometers of firebreaks have been created. Since this year, the military training area has also had a splinter-protected fire-fighting vehicle at its disposal. This means that fires can now also be fought in the zone endangered by unexploded ordnance. Several fires have already been extinguished in their initial stages. In cooperation with the district administrative authority, an information platform was also set up to quickly inform the authority, the media and affected outlying communities about incidents. In cooperation with the Lower Austrian Fire Brigade Association, some employees of the fire protection platoon of the military training area have already undergone forest fire training. A joint exercise with real extinguishing of forest and field fires is planned for fall 2021.
