Yesterday at 8:00 PM • Modified yesterday at 8:41 PM
A warm car in tall grass, a piece of glass or even an electric bicycle battery. These are things you may not immediately think of, but according to the fire brigade they can be enough to cause a wildfire. To learn more about recognizing and preventing incipient wildfires, visitors could participate in an interactive walk in the Loonse and Drunense Duinen on Saturday.
With signs, questions and explanations from the fire brigade, walkers learned what they can do to prevent fire and what to do if things go wrong.
The fact that wildfire danger is not a far-fetched show became clear again last week due to the large wildfires in Brabant at, among others, the Oirschotse Heide and Budel. Things also went badly wrong in the Loonse and Drunense Duinen last year. On April 12, 2025, 42 hectares of nature burned down there, approximately sixty football fields.
“The risk of wildfires is increasing,” says Wally Paridaans, cluster commander at the Brabant-Noord Fire Department. “Climate change is making fires more violent and intense. We want to make people aware of what they can do themselves.”
And according to the fire brigade, that starts with paying attention. Do you smell smoldering, see smoke or hear fire crackling? Then call the fire brigade immediately. “Don’t put out the fire yourself first,” Paridaans emphasizes. “The fire may be out, but the heat in the ground often causes the fire to flare up again. We can check whether it is really safe.”
One of the participants is Catherine. She comes from Drunen and last year experienced how quickly the fire in the Drunense Duinen spread: “It came so close then. Then you suddenly realize what can happen, how quickly such a fire can spread and how difficult it is to get under control. That is why I am here with the thought: prevention is better than cure.”
Visitors also received practical tips. In the event of a fire, do not walk with the wind, but rather perpendicular to the wind and walk to a safe place, such as a parking lot or open sandy area. The fire brigade also advises downloading the 112 app, because it allows emergency services to see more quickly where someone is: “And tell what you see around you in terms of landmarks, then the control room will know where to send us,” says Paridaans.
During the walk, the Drunen Fire Department also showed equipment, such as a thermal camera and special vehicles that can better drive through wooded areas. “Accessibility is one of the biggest challenges here,” says post commander Patrick Smulders. During a sunny weekend, up to ten thousand people walk around this nature reserve. “We hope that they will all take some account of what we are trying to say here today.”
Smulders says that his post also takes a preventive approach: “We regularly consult with the forest ranger and monitor the accessibility of the area. But we also regularly check local water extraction in the forest.”
The fire brigade hopes that after today visitors will walk through nature a little more consciously. “Many people know that they have to pay attention,” says Smulders. “But not everyone realizes how serious the consequences of one cigarette or shard of glass can be.”
The one kilometer walk was part of the national campaign ‘Preventing Fire is Your Nature‘.
