In Lower Saxony there are 3 districts that are classified as high-risk areas for forest fires. These areas, located in the east of the state, have many reports of fires, especially during the summer months. In the past, early detection of forest fires was done by using fire monitoring towers. However, these became dilapidated over time and were replaced by a new camera-based monitoring system in 2009/2010 following the results of a feasibility study. The new monitoring system is a network of 17 monitoring sites covering a monitoring area of 10,000km², of which 4,000km² is forest.

The camera system "Firewatch" uses originates from a method that was developed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) to detect comets in space. The technology measures the change in the grey scale of one image and compares it with other images. It could be adapted to the automated forest fire early detection system because the smoke that is produced when a fire breaks out changes the grey scale on the images so that it can be identified by the cameras. For this purpose, cameras were mounted on tall buildings such as transmission towers, which continuously scan the surroundings with 360 degrees and automatically trigger an alarm when smoke rises. The data is then forwarded by radio to a control centre in Lüneburg where the alarm is checked by human staff, who alert the nearest fire brigade if necessary.

This good practice example shows how the increasing risk of wildfires in Germany due to climate change can be mitigated. The number of days with a high risk of forest fires on which the control centre had to be staffed has more than doubled in the last ten years, from an average of 50 days per year (2011-2017) to an average of 111 days per year (2018-2020). This means that an increased effort is required to prevent wildfires. However, a software update has significantly reduced the rate of false alarms in recent years. The more climate change progresses, the more we rely on technical solutions such as the automated "Firewatch" system, as this enables us to combat the consequences of climate change more quickly and effectively.