Fierce battles continue in the Donetsk region, affecting not only towns and villages but also local forestry enterprises. Almost all former forest management buildings, video surveillance towers, and early forest fire detection systems have been destroyed.

 

This summer, the Donetsk forestries were transferred to the «Skhidnyi Forest Office» branch of the State Forests Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.” Despite the destroyed infrastructure, the situation with forest fires has been successfully stabilized.

 

The area affected by fires decreased by more than half: last year, fires covered 4.6 thousand hectares of forest land in the region, while this year — only 1.9 thousand hectares. Out of 100 recorded fire incidents, 98 were caused by combat actions.

 

The situation is much better in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, where the SFE “Forests of Ukraine” has maintained control for several years.

 

In Zaporizhzhia region, during the entire fire-hazardous period, fires affected 78.2 hectares of forest land (32 fires in total), of which 76.2 hectares were due to combat actions and 1.5 hectares due to human factors.

 

In Dnipropetrovsk region, 121 fires occurred over 118.6 hectares, 41 hectares of which were caused by warfare, and the rest by human activity. The region experienced an exceptionally hot and dry summer, causing fires to spread rapidly from farmlands and private properties.

 

The forest protection units of the branch demonstrated high efficiency — the average area of forest fires in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions was less than 1 hectare.

 

Meanwhile, SFE “Forests of Ukraine” strengthened the branch with new equipment — six new forest fire modules have already been delivered. By the end of the year, the Eastern Forestry Office is expected to receive even more of these modules.

 

Next year, the plan includes the purchase of two large fire trucks for the branch, as the advancing front line increases the risk of large-scale forest fires.

 

Currently, the branch operates 22 fire trucks and 26 forest fire modules, which are used across all forestry districts, including the Donetske Forestry Management Unit.