Slovak Military Forests and Estates (VLM SR) is working to prevent the occurrence of wildfires across Záhorie

On 22 June 2026, the Malacky Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) District Directorate issued an urgent wildfire warning for the entirety of the Malacky District – for all publicly accessible forests, woodlands and other stretches of vegetation – with the following ecosystems most susceptible to the ignition and spread of wildfires under drying conditions:

a) forests and protected forest zones (including their surrounding areas up to a distance of 50m from the forest border line),

b) continuous plant cover in natural vegetation (dry grasslands, stands of plant species, stubbles, etc.),

c) crops grown in agricultural fields, especially ripening grain fields and their surrounding areas up to a distance of 50m from the field border line,

d) and forest parks, parks, public gardens, zoos, and outdoor recreational areas.

Just as the threat of wildfires to the environments and communities is on the rise in summer, Military Forests and Estates (“VLM SR”), a state-owned company under the Ministry of Defence (MOD)’s remit, is carrying out regular ground patrols and aerial surveillance operations using unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) throughout the Záhorie region in order to monitor smoke and fire presence. Drone wildfire detection operations take place from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm on weekdays and from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm on weekends. During hot spells of weather, VLM SR foresters are working closely with Malacky FRS firefighters to help prevent blazes in this high fire risk region.