LocationsEvery Minute Counts: Protecting Belarus’ Forests at the Height of the Wildfire Season
October 13, 2026
The heat was intense in the Baranovichi district that day. Forest protection officers were patrolling the area when a report came in: a fire had been spotted in the forest.
“We knew straight away that we couldn’t afford to lose any time. A motorcycle festival was taking place nearby, with lots of people and vehicles in the area, and children were staying at a camp not far away,” recalls Yevgeniy Hordeychuk, Forest Protection Engineer at the Baranovichi Forestry Enterprise.
Fire engines from several forestry units were dispatched to the scene. The teams coordinated their actions by radio and used backpack sprayers to fight the flames. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished.
For forestry professionals, incidents like this put Belarus’s forest fire prevention and response system to the test. The country is strengthening this system with support from UNDP. The results of these efforts become particularly evident during the hot summer months, when the risk of wildfires rises sharply and every minute can make a difference in protecting forests.
Why Wildfires Are Becoming Harder to Prevent
Belarus’s forests are facing two major threats.
The first is all too familiar to forestry workers: human negligence. Statistics show that people cause nine out of every ten forest fires, whether through unattended campfires, discarded cigarette butts or the burning of dry grass.
The second threat is linked to climate change. Extreme heat and a lack of rainfall can quickly dry out the forest floor. A single spark is enough to ignite dry pine needles, moss and grass, allowing flames to spread at an alarming speed.
In the summer of 2026, the city of Pinsk in the Brest region recorded an all-time high temperature of +40.4°C. Spring is increasingly arriving earlier than usual, while rainfall is becoming less abundant. March 2026 was exceptionally warm and dry, providing another indication of the changing climate.
Since the beginning of the year, forestry workers across Belarus have extinguished 671 forest fires, affecting a total of 543.8 hectares. The situation remains particularly challenging in the Brest and Gomel regions. In Polesie, where wetlands and peatlands are widespread, the risk of fire spreading rapidly is especially high.
Preparedness Is the First Line of Defense
As Forest Protection Engineer Yevgeniy Hordeychuk explains, the priority is to prevent a small fire from turning into a major disaster. This is at the heart of disaster risk reduction: taking action before a crisis escalates to protect both people and nature.
Strengthening preparedness involves equipping forestry enterprises with modern tools, training professionals, improving monitoring and early fire detection systems, and engaging local communities.
During the winter and spring of 2026, 300 forestry units in Belarus’s most vulnerable southern regions received more than 3,000 backpack sprayers, hundreds of portable radios and protective equipment. The supplies were delivered through the project “Safeguarding Forests of Belarus: A Comprehensive Fire Preparedness Initiative for Community-Based Fire Prevention and Response,” implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus, with financial support from the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (Government of the People’s Republic of China).
The new equipment helps forestry teams coordinate their actions more quickly and contain fires before they have a chance to spread.
Yevgeniy Hordeychuk says the new backpack sprayers have made a noticeable difference to the work.
“With the older models, we had to put in much more effort. The new ones are easier to use, and our arms don’t get tired as quickly. That means we can fight a fire effectively for longer,” he explains.
In many cases, local residents or people visiting the forest are the first to spot a fire, rather than forestry workers. With UNDP support, more than 1,250 forestry professionals, community representatives and young people in the Minsk, Grodno, Vitebsk and Mogilev regions have already received training in wildfire prevention and early detection.
Thanks to a multi-layered monitoring and early detection system, combined with modern equipment, the average area affected by a single fire in 2026 has fallen by more than half compared with the same period last year, reaching 0.81 hectares.
Three Hours Against the Flames
Aleksandr Torchilo, a Forest Management Engineer at the Baranovichi Forestry Enterprise, recalls a fire that broke out several years ago.
At around 2 p.m., the forestry unit received a call reporting smoke above the forest. When the team arrived, it became clear that the situation was serious.
“It was March, but we had barely had a winter that year. The weather was sunny, and the wind was strong. Young pine trees were burning, and the surrounding vegetation was dry. We immediately realized that we wouldn’t be able to handle it on our own,” Aleksandr recalls.
Other forestry units and personnel from the Ministry for Emergency Situations joined the firefighting effort. The flames were spreading so quickly that they crossed a 50-metre field in just a few minutes. A village was located nearby.
“We knew we had to act quickly and work in close coordination to stop the fire from spreading any further,” Aleksandr says.
Everyone nearby pitched in to help, including local residents. Forestry workers cleared obstacles to allow firefighting vehicles to pass, while tractors created firebreaks to slow the flames. Teams relayed information using portable radios, as mobile phone coverage was almost non-existent.
It took around three hours to bring the fire under control.
Today, Aleksandr is confident that the equipment now available to forestry enterprises makes tackling fires like this significantly easier.
Protecting Forests for Future Generations
Belarus’s forests cover more than 40 per cent of the country’s territory. They provide habitats for thousands of animal and plant species, store carbon, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and play an important role in maintaining the water balance. Yet as the climate changes and periods of heat and drought become more prolonged, the risks facing these ecosystems continue to grow.
When forestry workers receive a report of a fire, every minute really does count. But behind every rapid response are months of preparation, modern technology and the combined efforts of forestry enterprises, emergency responders, local communities and international partners.
Protecting forests for future generations is one of the priorities of Belarus’s National Strategy for Sustainable Development through 2040. By helping Belarus reduce disaster risks and prevent forest fires, UNDP contributes to protecting not only forests, but also the people who live nearby, work on the land and will pass it on to their children.
Every fire stopped in time means a forest habitat preserved, potential damage to local communities avoided and another step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Life on Land (SDG 15) and Climate Action (SDG 13).