The fire that occurred on 23 June in the specially protected nature area “Ances purvi un meži”, which resulted in 7.8 ha of forest land being burnt, once again confirms the great importance of well-maintained fire protection infrastructure for the rapid and effective suppression of forest fires. It took the State Forest Service’s firefighting equipment more than an hour to travel the 23 km stretch from the main road to the site of the fire in “Ances purvi un meži”, the reason being the poor technical condition of the natural track. Furthermore, more than four hours passed from the moment the report of the fire was received until the start of extinguishing operations.

The conditions for extinguishing the forest fire were complicated by the difficult access to the site; it was only possible to reach it with VMD firefighting tankers, while access was impossible for VMD light off-road trucks, which are intended for the rapid containment of fires. The heavy VMD tankers took more than an hour to travel the 23 km stretch from the Kolka - Ventspils highway to the fire site. Half of this distance is covered with unstable sandy soil, which hindered the movement of the specialist vehicles. It was not possible to involve VUGD firefighting equipment in extinguishing the fire, as the technical condition of the natural track is not suitable for this firefighting equipment.