Working with fire
egetation fires are increasingly frequent and intense across the globe, and Germany is no exception. This alarming trend is fuelled by prolonged dry periods, a consequence of the climate crisis. The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), under the leadership of Johann Georg Goldammer, not only monitors fire events; it also serves as a critical bridge between science, policy, and practice, delivering essential knowledge where it is urgently needed. Through concrete, on-site assistance, the GFMC plays a crucial role in saving lives and securing a sustainable future in the face of growing fire risks.
Text: Tobias Beuchert
Vegetation fires are increasingly frequent and intense across the globe, and Germany is no exception. This alarming trend is fueled by prolonged dry periods, a consequence of the climate crisis. The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), under the leadership of Johann Georg Goldammer, not only monitors fire events; it also serves as a critical bridge between science, policy, and practice, delivering essential knowledge where it is urgently needed. Through concrete, on-site assistance, the GFMC plays a crucial role in saving lives and securing a sustainable future in the face of growing fire risks.
In July 2022, a wildfire blazed fiercely through the Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland region. Arson met a forest under severe heat stress, completely dried out and ravaged by bark beetles. Over a thousand firefighters mobilised to save eleven square kilometres of forest. Fabian Hälschke, head of the Großschönau fire department, faced the flames firsthand. Upon receiving the alert, his team swiftly drove their off-road tanker truck 30 kilometers to Mezní Louka, just across the Czech border.
"We knew we couldn’t stop the fire, so we decided with the Czech forces to at least save this village," Hälschke recounts. The dense forest blocked bulky vehicles, forcing ground crews to rappel down cliffs in remote areas. "It was a real battle,” Hälschke recalls. "The fire had incredible power as it climbed the gorge. We were in the draft, with the fire sucking in oxygen, and had to run for our lives, even though that's not the firefighter way."
An era of fire
Experienced fire chief Hälschke knows that the inferno in the summer of 2022 was exceptional. Yet, no one was surprised. Climate change leads to prolonged dry spells, increasing the amount of combustible vegetation. A single spark is all that it takes. Globally, vegetation fires are growing more intense and difficult to control. In this context, fire is seen as the enemy to be battled—hence the term "firefighter".
Johann Georg Goldammer, a fire ecologist and wildfire expert at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, is fostering a change in perspective. In other parts of the world, fire has long been a regular visitor and a crucial regulatory factor in local ecosystems. As the director of the GFMC, Goldammer draws from a rich reservoir of research and practical experience built over 50 years. He understands that many vegetation types have adapted to natural and cultural fires and that traditional knowledge and experiences from other parts of the world can help protect our forests and meadows. The goal is to work with fire, not against it. One thing is certain: fires will become more common in Germany too.
"Here, fire is cultural heritage"
A look at Ghana offers hope. Ecologist and forestry scientist Lucy Amissah heads the newest regional centre of the GFMC in West Africa, one of eight centres worldwide. Ghana’s vegetation is highly diverse, ranging from lush rainforests in the south to savannahs in the north. If the rainforest were to burn, it would be catastrophic, as it is rich in species and stores large amounts of climate-damaging CO2. Fortunately, fire has rarely played a role there, as the region has been too wet. The situation is different in the dry north. “Here, fire is cultural heritage, an important part of agriculture and the ecosystem. Farmers prepare their fields for planting with controlled burns,” says Amissah. Some plants need fire to germinate. However, such balances do not last forever, and humans as a factor, threaten to tip the scales.
Increasing droughts are raising the risk that traditionally managed fires could spiral out of control. Should an intense fire develop, even rainforests, which are losing their resilience due to climate change, would be at risk. This is precisely where the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) steps in.
"We foster an exchange on equal terms," says Amissah, a key figure at the GFMC. "It doesn't make sense to forbid people in rural areas to use fire. Instead, we learn from traditional techniques and offer research findings in return. We train local populations to use fire responsibly," explains Amissah.
Forestry in transition
In Germany, the situation is different. Since the Federal Nature Conservation Act came into force in 1976, fire has no longer been used in agriculture. Instead, centuries of human activity have shaped a cultural landscape where little remains truly natural. The land is intensively farmed, leaving no room for fire. This approach extends to forests, which were heavily exploited in the late Middle Ages and reforested with fast-growing spruce and pine after World War II to meet reparation payments. "Back then, it made sense to reforest with fast-growing spruce and pine," notes Johann Georg Goldammer. Today, the landscape from above resembles a patchwork quilt of farmland and forest parcels." Back then, it made sense to reforest with fast-growing spruce and pine,” notes Goldammer. From above, the landscape today resembles a patchwork of farmland and forest parcels. And there is a demand on the remaining forests: they are expected to provide sustainable timber, protect settlements from floods, landslides, and avalanches, provide recreational spaces, and sequester CO2. Forestry operations are designed to ensure that forests can fulfil these functions for centuries to come. "We mustn't think too short-term, that's not really an option," says Goldammer.
At the same time, the current climate is already too warm for spruce trees, which are unlikely to survive. The rapid pace of climate change underscores the urgent need to rethink forest management strategies. "Even forestry science does not have a one-size-fits-all answer to what our forests will look like in the future," Goldammer concludes.
Foresters are now opting for mixed forests as a strategy for risk diversification. The idea is straightforward: if spruce fail to survive future climates, other species in a diverse forest might better withstand the changing environment. However, in about 80 percent of German forest areas, prolonged dry periods have already created gaps in the protective canopy of deciduous trees. In short, German forests provide more and more fuel for fires. In our densely populated cultural landscape natural causes account for only about 0.5 percent of the igniting spark. In the remaining cases, human activity—whether intentional or accidental—is the primary cause. "We have to learn to live with fire," urges Johann Georg Goldammer.
Nature as a model
He proposes a pragmatic approach to managing forest fires: creating sparse forests, particularly in forest fire protection corridors. This concept is inspired by the Siberian taiga, which has perfected this principle over thousands of years. Lightning ignites fires every 20 to 40 years, resulting in open, light forests of larch and pine in certain regions. Over thousands of years, a natural balance has been established: trees are spaced sufficiently far apart, allowing fires to spread quickly through the low vegetation between trunks and ensuring that undergrowth and shrubs are regularly burned back. The pines and larches themselves are well-adapted to these superficial burns. If Goldammer had his way, German forestry administrations would consider adopting similar strategies. Implementing sparse forest corridors might seem radical, but they could be managed through intensive maintenance to prevent overgrowth. Potential methods include grazing the forest strips to utilise the grass or conducting controlled burns to manage undergrowth, mimicking natural processes observed in Eurasia. The idea is to expand forest management to include a component of fire management.
Strategies for policy and practice
The goal of Goldammer and his international team is to make their research findings and experiences available worldwide. Goldammer likes to add the term "practitioner" to the concept of the "science-policy interface." The GFMC does both: it develops and supports strategies at the highest political level and trains those who deal with fire voluntarily and professionally on the ground.
Since the 1990s, Johann Georg Goldammer and his Freiburg fire ecology group have been researching how to control landscape fires. This extensive work has resulted in a wealth of field-tested strategies and techniques reminiscent of those used in Canada and Australia. Their equipment includes a small tank backpack that could also be used for watering plants, small bottles of gasoline for setting backfires, various hand tools like a type of garden hoe, and bright yellow work clothes with red helmets and goggles to protect against soot. Field trials have demonstrated how effectively wildfires can be managed with manual labour. Ground crews work with the fire's cause rather than wasting valuable water on excessively hot flames. They proactively remove fuel from the fire by cutting protective strips across the fire front or setting tactical backfires. "The flames move faster uphill than we can," says Sebastian Muth, fire chief inspector from Kitzingen district. Many fire departments are aware of their limitations and seek training from Goldammer and organizations like @fire to improve their fire management skills.
Climate-change as a cross-section issue
"Fire itself knows no boundaries," says Goldammer. He and his teams have demonstrated worldwide that global challenges like climate change can be tackled by learning from other cultures and fostering an honest and purposeful dialogue between science, policy, and practice in Germany. "The microcosm of local fire departments and forestry administrations and the macrocosm of the Global Fire Monitoring Center belong together," Goldammer explains. "Climate change and the issue of vegetation fires are cross-cutting tasks."
Rooted in the Max Planck Society, the GFMC has now attracted international attention. The accumulated knowledge of the Freiburg center is transitioning to the Global Fire Management Hub, a central fire management entity under the United Nations. "One day you’re covered in soot with blackened hands and a soot-streaked nose, and the next you’re at the United Nations in a suit and tie, sharing what you’ve learned"—that’s how Johann Georg Goldammer captures the essence of his work.
