Forest fire near Strakonice brought under control: around 10 hectares burned

A forest fire near the village of Lnářе in the Strakonice district has been brought under control and contained, fire chief Jiří Chmel announced shortly before midnight on Thursday. According to preliminary estimates, the blaze consumed around ten hectares of forest.

Firefighters declared the third of four possible fire danger levels. In the evening, 14 fire brigades were working at the scene, and shortly before 10:30 pm, according to a reporter on site, around a hundred firefighters were present. About 40 people from eight or nine units stayed overnight to monitor the fire.

Water drawn from a pond, brought in by local farmers

According to the fire chief, water from a nearby pond should be sufficient to continue fighting the blaze, as its consumption has noticeably decreased. Throughout the day and evening, local farmers and agricultural producers helped bring in water — securing enough of it was one of the biggest challenges during the firefighting effort.

The exact area burned is not yet known. A drone unit is expected to determine it early on Friday morning — the drones will also help locate remaining smouldering spots, which can then be extinguished individually. Firefighters previously used the same technology while battling wildfires in Greece.

Damage estimated at tens of millions of crowns

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. According to one unconfirmed theory, a spark may have drifted over from a neighbouring meadow that was being worked on during the day — but this remains only speculation. Investigators have already visited the site to survey the area. Based on Jiří Chmel's preliminary estimate, damage could range from a few to tens of millions of crowns, with exact figures to follow after a detailed inspection of the site.

Luboš Broumil, director of the South Bohemian Region's territorial fire department branch in Písek, called this one of the largest forest fires in the Strakonice district this year.

Reinforcements arrived from three regions

During the day, Czech police aircraft and coordinating officers at the regional and territorial level also arrived at the scene. South Bohemian firefighters called for reinforcements through the inter-regional mutual assistance system — by evening, units from three regions were working on site: South Bohemia, Central Bohemia and Plzeň.

Earlier in the evening, Broumil noted that difficult, rugged terrain was hampering the firefighting effort, and he expected work to continue at least until morning, possibly through all of Friday as remaining hotspots were extinguished. By then, the intensity of the fire had already begun to decrease.

On Thursday, firefighters also had to tackle other wildfires — including grass fires near Čekanice in the Tábor district and near Strakonice. Due to the prolonged drought and heat, an elevated fire risk warning is in effect across the whole of Czechia. Meteorologists do not expect rain or cooler weather before Sunday or the beginning of next week.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ct24.ceskatelevize.cz