Fires in Czechia increase by 30 percent

Firefighters in Czechia responded to 20,790 fires last year, a roughly 30 percent increase on the year before. Forest fires and wildfires accounted for almost half of these and their overall number has increased significantly - while in 2021 there were 3,588 forest and wildfires, last year there were almost three times as many.

The head of the fire service, Vladimír Vlček, blamed the increase in the number of fires on climatic conditions, as the winter was dry followed by very warm weather in the summer months.