Wie oft brannte der Walliser Wald im 20. Jahrhundert? | Forest fire occurrences in Canton Valais in the 20th century

In August 2003, a disastrous fire destroyed some 300 ha of forest near Leuk in the Swiss Canton of Valais. This extreme event heightened, for a time at least, public awareness of forest fires and triggered various research activities. Forest fires play an important part in the forest dynamics of the Valais. In this article we present a historical database, which contains data on outbreaks of fire over the past 100 years. The temporal variability of forest fires is analysed and possible relations to climate change and changes in forest use discussed. Three of the largest fires are presented as case studies (Ochsenboden in July 1921, Aletschwald/Riederhorn in May 1944 and Pfynwald in July 1962). Although wide areas of forest have been burnt in past fires, no outbreak in the last 100 years reached the extent of the forest fire of Leuk in 2003.