Estonia will send 20 firefighters to Sardinia, at a time when southern Europe battles blazes and extreme heat. The island off the west coast of Italy is both mountainous and heavily forested.

Speaking to Vikerraadio on Tuesday morning, the Rescue Board's (Päästeamet) Kaarel Langemets noted how firefighting in that region differs greatly from the situation at home, though some of the Estonians have experience of fires like those in Sardinia.

"Compared with our forest fires, wildfires in Southern Europe are very different. The terrain, climate and vegetation are different. On our latest missions, about half of the team members had been there before, while the other half are newcomers," said the leader of one of the teams heading to Sardinia to help fight the blazes.

"A previous deployment to Spain gave the firefighters valuable experience and an idea of what to expect this time. "Naturally, Sardinia is somewhat different from Spain. Sardinia is full of deciduous trees, but it is also mountainous and hot, which poses a major challenge for firefighters," Langemets went on.

Not only are conditions different, but methodologies too. "While Estonian firefighters mainly attack fires with hoses, laying kilometers of hose through the forest, in Southern Europe the focus is more on monitoring and scouting where the fire is spreading and where it can actually be stopped. Firebreaks are created instead, and that is exactly what our firefighters have been trained to do. It is possible to create strips of bare ground because the soil layer there is virtually non-existent," Langemets explained.

Estonia faces a very different problem because fires can burn underground, usually when peat is present. "The fire does not even have to be very large, and we can contain it quite quickly, but it can spread several meters deep into peat soils. In Sardinia, the main concern is the mountainous terrain, where fire spreads very rapidly uphill. Add high temperatures, almost zero humidity and wind, and you have the perfect storm. Those are exactly the conditions in Spain and France today," Langemets continued.

"The main firefighting work takes place from early morning until sunset," Langemets added. The Estonian personnel will be integrated into local rescue units.

Langemets was under no illusion about potential hazards. "The most dangerous situation in mountainous areas is when the wind changes direction. Firefighters must always leave themselves an escape route back to a safe area. Continuous reconnaissance of the fire is the single most important thing," he added.

As for immediate causes of the Sardinia fires, these can vary, though human factors are usually present. "Not maliciously, but because of human actions. It could be a cigarette butt, or something from a vehicle, such as a hot exhaust, which ignites vegetation," the expert said.

As for natural causes, Spain, for instance, is also known for thunderstorms which produce little to no rainfall. "It was an incredible thunderstorm that ignited a great many wildfires," he noted.

The Estonian team is being based in Monte Pisano, northern Sardinia, and is due to return mid-month. The deployment follows the intense wildfires seen in Southern Europe recently, mainly in France, Spain, northern Portugal, and northern Italy, following the latest heatwave, which brought temperatures of over 40 C to a region which has already seen a long summer of heatwaves.

The Estonians are to use all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and teams of up to three may also assist helicopter crews in firefighting where needed.

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