The Greens in the Saxon state parliament believe that cutting funding for fire protection in the state is irresponsible. "We are once again experiencing an extreme drought in 2025. Persistent and recurring drought, especially in spring, and rising temperatures are massively increasing the risk of forest fires," explained former Forestry Minister Wolfram Günther. Climate change will further exacerbate this problem.
"It is therefore urgently necessary to take the right precautionary measures for Saxony's forests now." This is all the more important as the forests have already been massively weakened by storms and pests in recent years, argued Günther. In addition to forest fire prevention, forest conversion must also continue to be significantly stabilized.
Government plans significant cuts in fire protection
According to the CDU-SPD minority government's draft budget, funding for forest firefighting equipment is to be reduced to zero in 2025 and 2026. Instead of 3.5 million euros last year, a total of just 860,000 euros will now be available for the purchase of special vehicles this year and next. The allocations to local authorities for fire protection will also be significantly reduced.
Greens: Hope doesn't put out fires
"People in Saxony must be able to rely on the fire department having what they need to put out forest fires quickly at all times," emphasized Green Party interior politician Valentin Lippmann: "Fine words about volunteering don't bring modern equipment to the fire stations and hope doesn't put out fires."
Forest fires have repeatedly kept Saxony on tenterhooks in recent years. The summer of 2022 is particularly memorable, when fires raged for weeks in Saxon Switzerland.
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