First Main Title Line First Line Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2014 Joint report of JRC and Directorate-General Environment 2015 Report EUR 27400 EN European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Contact information San-Miguel- Ayanz Jesús Address: Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, TP 261, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +39 0332 78 6138 JRC Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc Legal Notice This publication is a Technical Report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policy-making process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. All images © European Union 2015 JRC97214 EUR 27400 EN ISBN 978-92-79-50447-1 (PDF) ISBN 978-92-79-50446-4 (print) ISSN 1831-9424 (online) ISSN 1018-5593 (print) doi:10.2788/224527 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2015 © European Union, 2015 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Abstract This is the 15th issue of the EFFIS annual report on forest fires for the year 2014. This report is consolidated as highly appreciated documentation of the previous year's forest fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In its different sections, the report includes information on the evolution of fire danger in the European and Mediterranean regions, the damage caused by fires and detailed description of the fire conditions during the 2014 fire campaign in the majority of countries in the EFFIS network The chapter on national reporting gives an overview of the efforts undertaken at national and regional levels, and provides inspiration for countries exposed to forest fire risk. The preparation and publication of the report aims also at improving cooperation with the members of the EGFF especially with regard to fire prevention actions. Our common aim is to maintain and protect our landscapes and natural heritage, to avoid loss of human lives and to minimise the damage caused to property by uncontrolled forest fires. Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2014 Contacts: JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE Institute for Environment and Sustainability Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit Guido Schmuck [email protected] Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz [email protected] Tracy Durrant [email protected] Roberto Boca [email protected] Giorgio Libertá [email protected] Thomas Petroliagkis [email protected] Margherita Di Leo [email protected] Dario Rodrigues [email protected] Francesco Boccacci [email protected] DIRECTORATE-GENERAL ENVIRONMENT Directorate B: Natural Capital Agriculture, Forests & Soil Unit Ernst Schulte [email protected] MEMBER STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES See list of contributors for country reports. Sources of data and comments are also given in the text. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS FOR THE COUNTRY REPORTS Algeria Abdelhafid BENCHIKHA Direction Générale de la Protection Civile Mohamed ABBAS Direction Générale des Forêts Austria Franz HUMER The Austrian Federal Fire Brigade Association Belgium Jan BAETENS Crisis Centre of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Internal Affairs, Belgium Bulgaria Vladimir KONSTANTINOV Executive Forest Agency Croatia Ivana PEŠUT Directorate for Forestry, Hunting and Wood Industry, Ministry of Agriculture Neven SZABO National Protection and Rescue Directorate Cyprus Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Department of Forests Estonia Veljo KÜTT The Estonian Environment Agency Kadi KÕIV Ministry of the Environment Finland Rami RUUSKA Ministry of Interior Department for Rescue Services former Yugoslav Tatjana ANASTASOV Protection and rescue Directorate Republic of Maja TIMOVSKA Department for analysis and research Macedonia France Philippe MICHAUT Ministère de l’Intérieur Direction de la Défense et de la Sécurité Civiles Philippe JOANNELLE Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l'Agroalimentaire et de la Forêt , DGPAAT Germany Michaela LACHMANN Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food Greece Eirini ALEXIOU Ministry of Reconstruction of Production, Environment and Energy; Directorate General for the Protection and Development of Forests and the Rural Environment Hungary Peter DEBRECENI Forestry Directorate, Forest Inspection and Protection Service Unit Dániel NAGY Ireland Ciaran NUGENT Forest service Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Italy Daniela PICCOLI Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali Filippo MICILLO Italian Forest Corps Lorenza COLLETTI Marco DI FONZO Fabrizio DI LIBERTO Latvia Edijs LEISAVNIEKS State Forest Service; Forest and Environmental Protection Department Lebanon George MITRI University of Balamand Lithuania Zbignev GLAZKO Ministry of Environment Directorate General of State Forests Morocco Fouad ASSALI Service de la protection des forêts Hicham ALAOUI M'HARZI Haut-Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la Lutte Contre la Désertification) Norway Dag BOTNEN Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning Poland Joseph PIWNICKI Forest Research Institute Ryszard SZCZYGIEŁ Forest Fire Protection Department Portugal Marta JANEIRA National Authority for Civil Protection (ANPC) Alexandre BORGES Romania Septimius MARA Ministry of Environment and Climatic Changes Radu SBIRNEA Department for Waters, Forests and Fishery Russian Andrey ERITSOV Aerial Forest Fire Centre of Russian Federation Federation Slovak Rep. Valéria LONGAUEROVÁ National Forest Centre; Forest Research Institute Slovenia Jošt JAKŠA Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment Spain Elsa ENRIQUEZ Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino Área de Defensa Contra Incendios Forestales Sweden Leif SANDAHL Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) Risk & Vulnerability Reduction Department Switzerland Michael REINHARD Federal Office for the Environment Marco CONEDERA WSL Federal Research Institute Boris PEZZATTI Table of Contents 1 PREFACE ......................................................................................................... 1 2 FOREST FIRES 2014 ......................................................................................... 2 2.1 Introduction to the 2014 fire season in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. ..... 2 2.2 European countries ..................................................................................... 4 2.2.1 Austria ..............................................................................................4 2.2.2 Belgium ............................................................................................5 2.2.3 Bulgaria ............................................................................................6 2.2.4 Croatia ..............................................................................................7 2.2.5 Cyprus ............................................................................................ 10 2.2.6 Estonia ........................................................................................... 12 2.2.7 Finland ............................................................................................ 13 2.2.8 France ............................................................................................ 15 2.2.9 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia .......................................... 19 2.2.10 Germany ......................................................................................... 20 2.2.11 Greece ............................................................................................ 22 2.2.12 Hungary .......................................................................................... 24 2.2.13 Ireland ............................................................................................ 27 2.2.15 Italy ............................................................................................... 29 2.2.16 Latvia ............................................................................................. 33 2.2.17 Lithuania ......................................................................................... 35 2.2.18 Norway ........................................................................................... 36 2.2.19 Poland ............................................................................................ 39 2.2.20 Portugal .......................................................................................... 44 2.2.21 Romania ......................................................................................... 48 2.2.22 Russian Federation ........................................................................... 50 2.2.23 Slovak Republic ................................................................................ 52 2.2.24 Slovenia .......................................................................................... 54 2.2.25 Spain .............................................................................................. 55 2.2.26 Sweden ........................................................................................... 58 2.2.27 Switzerland ....................................................................................