The so-called Forest Fire Atlas was an internet-based data platform that “presents different information that may be relevant for fighting forest fires in a highly topical way,” said Paul Becker, the head of the Federal Office of Cartography and Geodesy, which developed the platform.

His agency is part of Germany’s Interior Ministry and processes data on the Earth’s surface in Germany.

The atlas collects a whole range of publicly available data and presents it as a map. “This includes the location of forest areas, the current fire situation, the development of precipitation and much more,” Becker explained.

Potential users are federal and state governments, but also individual fire brigades. “The aim is to provide decision makers with fact-based material to support their operational planning,” he said.

Climate scientists warned that Germany was threatened by another year of drought, following two years with below average rainfalls.