In 2023, the People’s Republic of Poland detained 63 arsonists

As part of Operation Safe Forest 2023, the NDP detained 63 people and identified 970 for crimes related to forest fires, as a result of which 3,292 administrative offenses were identified for arson, failure to clear land and fires, it reported this Saturday.

In its Operation Safe Forest 2023 assessment, the GNR says there were 4,332 bushfire-related crimes recorded last year.

Of the 6,908 fires investigated, authorities found that 32% were caused by fire, 21% by arson, 10% by accidental causes, 3% by re-ignition, 1% by structural causes and 1% by natural causes. . .

As part of Operation Safe Forest 2023, 3,292 administrative offenses were also registered, most of which (2,577) were related to land clearing.

Grounds for committing administrative offenses also included arson and bonfires, improper use of machinery and equipment, as well as fires.

The GNR flags 14,319 sites with a lack of fuel management, resulting in 7,901 voluntary compliance with land clearing requirements.

The operation also resulted in 7,093 awareness campaigns, reaching 116,526 people, aimed at “avoiding risky behaviour, taking self-protection measures and using fire correctly.”

The GNR has 158 cameras covering 6,300,000 hectares of the country, they have 230 guard posts and carried out 45,782 patrol operations in the last year.

Through the electronic platform “DIVDIR”, which tracks all detected alerts, 1,616 alerts were issued by fixed surveillance, 601 by mobile surveillance, 40 by area surveillance and 6,174 by public surveillance.

According to the GNR, the operation “has made a decisive contribution to the significant reduction in the number of serious incidents and the negative impact they can have on society, with the lowest number of fires recorded in 2023 in the last decade.”

Operation Safe Forest aims to prevent, detect and control rural fires and curb illegal activities to ensure public safety and conservation of forest heritage.