Surge in brush and grass fires in Helsinki this summer
Dry terrain susceptible to matches, cigarettes, and disposable grills
A grey cloud of smoke arose from behind the tower of Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday at about three in the afternoon.
There was a brush fire next to a children’s traffic safety park near the Laakso Hospital.
The Helsinki Rescue Department was under the impression that a much more serious forest fire had broken out, and that several units would be needed to bring it under control.
"We were the first to get there, and I saw right away how small the fire was. I reported back that we would take care of it on our own", said Mikko Salo, head of the unit.
The fire was indeed out in 15 minutes - hardly long enough for the firefighters to break into much of a sweat.
It was a familiar scenario. Salo has been involved in putting out about 20 similar fires this summer.
"The fire may have been good for nature, because it made us come out and water the ground."
Beer bottles could be seen on the blackened ground- a sign that discarded cigarettes might be there as well.
The Laakso fire was a very typical terrain fire for Helsinki: only a couple of dozen square metres of scorched ground. Such fires are generally detected early, when they are still so small that one firefighting unit can easily deal with it.
It is those kinds of fires that are often caused by children playing with matches or careless smokers. Fire Chief Juha Lindholm of the Helsinki Rescue Department says that disposable barbecue grills are a new headache.
"The grills are placed directly on dry ground and are left there when the people go away. Then they just smoulder on their own", Lindholm says.
He estimates that disposable grills have caused dozens of grass and brush fires in Helsinki.
According to figures from the rescue department of the Ministry of the Interior, there have been about 1,200 terrain fires in the Uusimaa region this year, 828 of which took place within the past three months. Last summer’s figure was just 135.
There were just over 100 brush or grass fires in Helsinki in 2005 as a whole. There have been more than 450 so far this year, and there is plenty of time for more before the year is out.
Still, Lindholm is not about to perform a rain dance.
"I hope it stays sunny. We get quite enough rain and sleet in this country."
Helsinki has been spared actual forest fires. In fact, the only place where a true forest fire could break out would be the Central Park. "We’re not afraid of it, but there is a risk", Lindholm says.
Human life is rarely at stake in brush fires, but a strong wind can make them spread quite rapidly. For instance, one such fire in Taivaskallio in the Helsinki district of Käpylä a couple of weeks ago was so bad that people living nearby were urged to stay inside.
"When the first unit came by the fire area was 10 to 15 metres wide. In a few minutes it spread up a hill. There were 13 units putting it out."
One special characteristic of urban brush and grass fires is that they generate more media interest than a fire of similar size in rural areas ever would.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 28.8.2006 - TODAY |
 Surge in brush and grass fires in Helsinki this summer
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