THOR field trip to the Harz

On June 23, 2022 the team of the THOR joint project met in the Lower-Saxon part of the Harz mountains to learn about the current wildfire situation. Supported by local firefighters, Mr. Ralf Krüger and Mr. Daniel Göbel of Niedersächsische Landesforsten had prepared a field trip to relevant locations. We did, for example, visit forest stands that had recently burned to discuss fuel loads, fire patterns and weather impact. We were taught that most of the current wildfires had been caused by arson. In this case, the extraordinarily high amount of deadwood is often the point of ignition, especially when slash is piled near a path. Futhermore, wild campers often use deadwood for prohibited campfires, which may evolve into wildfires when not put out properly. Also, standing dead wood is a threat to firefighters, because crowns can break and fall down. Another problem particularly in higher mountain ranges is getting enough water to extinguish a wildfire. We visited a small barrage near Romkehall waterfalls, which can be used as watersource for firefighting. 

After a pleasant evening in Bad Harzburg the annual THOR meeting took place the next day in the HarzWaldHaus, at which every working  group presented their progress and current tasks were discussed. This completed our successful trip to the Harz mountains. Our thanks go to Mr. Ralf Krüger (head of Clausthal forestry office) and Mr. Daniel Göbel (head of Göttingerode forestry district) for organizing this interesting field trip and kindly providing the HarzWaldHaus as location for our meeting.