Burwood Wildfires
 Map highlighting affected area. | |
| Start date | Late 1727 AN to early 1728 AN |
|---|---|
| Affected areas |
 Moorland Ostland
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| Consequences | |
Background
The Burwood Wildfires began in early 1727 somewhere south of the city of Reichsborg, in the dense Burwood Forests. It is thought that a careless camper may have left an untended fire going, or a carelessly thrown-away cigarette was to cause. Whatever the case may be, the combination of the fire's ignition with that of severely dry conditions, as evidenced by droughts elsewhere, combined with high winds to rapidly spread the fire across thousands of acres. The fires spread quickly, igniting the dry tinder of the forest floors and fueled by the resin of the many pines trees. Within a few weeks the fires had spread to over 10,000 acres and firefighters were unable to regain control. The fires also spread into neighboring Moorland, primarily in the southern region of Huntsland.
The fires would eventually engulf over 4 million acres of land and cause a major humanitarian crisis in Ostland. The encirclement and destruction of the city of Reichborg by fire, and the subsequent death of the royal family, also plunged Ostland into chaos. In the ensuing disaster Moorland stepped in to combat the fires and restore order to the region.
Timeline
- 1.II.1727 AN: First wildfires reported south of Reichsborg on the edge of the Burwood Forest.
- 12.IV.1727 AN: Wildfires reported by watchtowers in Fort Hunter along southern edge of Burwood Forest.
- 8.V.1727 AN: Reports of fires spreading across all of Burwood received by dispatch. Moorland begins battling fires in the south. Smoke begins affecting air quality.
- 20.VI.1727 AN: Firefighting teams fail to contain wildfires; high winds push fires towards Reichsborg and Großehafen. Military units activated to assist in fire control.
- 20.VIII.1727 AN: Eisenmann government refuses to seek foreign assistance in fighting wildfires. Burning regions envelope Reichsborg, cutting off communications with the city and Ostlandic officials. Arbeitskorps begins fracturing into regional commands, fighting the fires independent of the central government. Elements of MAF deployed along Ostland-West Moorland border to stave off fire spreading north.
- 2.X.1727 AN: Satellite imagery indicates Reichsborg burning; communication still silent. Großehafen surrounded by fire. Status of Ostlandic government unknown. Southmoor Garrison assisting fire brigades in holding back fires northwest of Fort Hunter. Moorland begins accepting refugees. Air quality deteriorates across northeast Keltia.
- 9.XI.1727 AN: Flyovers conducted by Moorland indicate Reichsborg lost to fire along with government. Großehafen burning and unable to evacuate. Ostlandic government breaks down and Arbeitskorps begins scattering as situation descends into a free-for-all. King MacMartin authorizes MAF to cross border and begin moving into Ostland to fight fires and restore order.
- 16.XIII.1727 AN: Moorland musters the reserves of the National Fryd to assist with fighting the fires. Southmoor Garrison crosses from Fort Hunter into southern Ostland and begins pushing fires back; they are assisted by the Royal Commandos. In the north, the Westmoor Light Infantry is deployed to the outskirts of Reichsborg and the Aerist Militia is deployed near Großehafen. Helicopters are able to airlift some survivors out of Großehafen before it completely succumbs to fire.
- 9.XIV.1727 AN: Within a month Moorland is able to raise 15,000 of the National Fryd reservists and begin deployments across northern Ostland. Despite this, Großehafen is lost to the wildfires. Refugees begin pouring into sanctuary cities such as Worth, Copthorne, and Port Neil. MAF takes command of and begins reorganizing various Arbeitskorps remnants as St Joseph's Volunteers.
- 7.I.1728 AN: Winter snows slow spread of fires. A combination of foresters, firefighters, and MAF units successfully dozer a corridor north of Huntsland as a firebreak, fires halted from spreading further south. Air transports received from Benacian Union are retrofitted with water tanks and deployed to begin air spraying of fires. Pushback successful outside of Copthorne.
- 10.IV.1728 AN: Fires finally burn out in Großehafen; city is declared a complete loss. Northern units begin pushing towards Reichsborg. Southern units begin flanking from the western side of Burwood, staving off further spread of fire. Scouting reports indicate fires are lessening in strength as fuel begins to run out.
- 30.VII.1728 AN: Fires successfully extinguished in Reichsborg. City is a complete loss and survivors are directed eastward to the garrison of St. Joseph's Volunteers, where a refugee camp has been established, eponymously called St. Joseph's. Fires mostly isolated by firebreaks and begin burning out. Southern units begin pushing north into the denser forested areas.
- 18.IX.1728 AN: Rainstorms help to put out remaining fires and remove ash from air, significantly improving conditions throughout the region. MAF units and firefighters continue to isolate remaining burning zones, now reduced to about 2,000 acres.
- 6.XII.1728 AN: Remaining fires extinguished after three more months of battling the blazes. The valiant efforts of the MAF, St. Joseph's Volunteers, firefighters, EMS crews and countless others can finally get some well-deserved rest and recuperation. Recovery and restoration efforts begin in earnest.
- 11.XIV.1728 AN: Moorland creates the Burwood Restoration Initiative as a government agency to oversee infrastructure and ecological restoration of Burwood.
Impacts
The rapid spread of the wildfires caused serious socio-political and ecological problems for the states affected. Widespread destruction of homes and entire villages was reported across southern and central Ostland, especially in areas where the woodland-urban interface had been eroded due to rapid development. This latter element was seen mostly in Ostland, where the push for industrialization by the government had resulted in a lack of buffer zones between wooded areas and urban communities. Immediate ecological problems were seen in a sharp amount of wildlife death, both in the fires and as they fled the forests and encountered urban areas and humans. Crop fields burned, causing food shortages. Huge clouds of smoke permeated the air, reducing visibility and creating hazardous conditions for people and animals. It further created a humanitarian crisis as thousands of people fled their homes to seek refuge elsewhere.
Response
Response from the Ostlandic government remained rather tight-lipped as few reports of the extent and severity of the fires leaked out of the country. Evidence of the fires was only first surmised by fire towers in Fort Hunter, which lay at the southern outskirts of Burwood Forest. Lookouts first spotted smoke on the horizon, followed two days later by actual fire. Moorland immediately deployed firefighting units across Huntsland to halt the fires at the border, but did not have authorization to cross into Ostland to battle the fires there. As such it could only watch as the fires spread across Burwood. By the middle of 1727, refugees had begun to amass at the borders bringing tales of fires outside Reichsborg and Copthorne. These refugees were, of course, given sanctuary in Moorland, with King MacMartin himself stating his desire to avoid a humanitarian crisis. By emergency order the King ordered available units of the Moorland Armed Forces deployed along the borders to assist with refugees and to battle any approaching fires as best they could.
By late 1727 it had become clear that the desire of the Ostlandic government to handle to situation themselves had resulted in their inability to control the fires. Subsequently, the city of Reichsborg, along with the Ostlandic government, soon found themselves surrounded by wildfires and unable to escape. The Royal Family and much of the Ostlandic government perished as the entire city went up in flames. Nearby Großehafen would soon face the same fate, with foreign aid unable to reach the city in time. Ostland's Arbeitskorps, attempting to act of its own volition to fight the fires, quickly fractured without a command structure. As news of Reichsborg's fate reached Korpsmen, the soldiers began abandoning their posts in lieu of getting their own families to safety. King MacMartin, realizing the severity of the situation and the threat the uncontrolled fires posed to Moorland, authorized the MAF to begin moving in to Ostlandic territory to fight the fires and restore order. All available resources would be dispensed by the kingdom in order to fight and contain the blazes.
By 12.1727, the MAF had begun to deploy units across the border into Ostland and had ordered the mustering of the National Fryd. The Southmoor Garrison was the first unit to cross the border, leaving Fort Hunter and heading west to the southern edge of Burwood Forest where they began assisting local units in containing the further spread of the fires. The Royal Commandos were also airlifted to Newhaven and soon joined the Southmoor Garrison in containing the southern tier. As the Fryd was mustering, the Westmoor Light Infantry left Worth and headed directly south to the outskirts of Reichsborg. Reports from the WLI indicated that they had to halt fifteen miles north of the city due to the fires and that scouts and drones had confirmed a complete loss there. As such the WLI began work to contain the fire rather than clear a corridor to the city. The Aerist Militia was deployed to Großehafen but met a similar situation as that in Reichsborg as the city had been surrounded and consumed by the fires. Helicopters were deployed to evacuate a few survivors but these too had to be cut short before the smoke and fire overtook them. Instead primary emphasis was placed on preventing the fires from spreading further east and reaching Port Neil.
During 1727 AN the Benacian Union began requisitioning suitable cargo aircraft and flying boats for conversion to firefighting duties. By 10.XIII.1727 AN, the first of these began to arrive in the Warring Islands prior to their transfer to the Moorland Armed Forces. Four modified Spiegelflügel-Taube Amphibious Aircraft were received by Moorland on 21.XIV.1727 AN. With winter came snow, and that helped to put a natural damper on the fires. Even in areas further south where snow was less frequent, those locations finally experienced some rainfall. In addition, the Southmoor Garrison was able to link with foresters, reservists and firefighters to use requisitioned bulldozers to clear a east-west firebreak across the southern tier of Huntsland, halting the fire's spread further south. The decision was made to isolate the most intense sections of the blaze and allow them to burn up on their own rather than risk further lives trying to extinguish them. The north experienced similar success as air units conducted water sprays along a firebreak path, halting the spread of the fires to the northeast just outside of Copthorne. St Joseph's Volunteers had a harder time in the west, where the forest is much denser and has more fuel available to burn. They were joined by the Holy Theban Legion, which had been recuperating from losses incurred during Operation Northway and was re-assigned as an emergency-assist to help with fire control. Together they were able to halt the fires from progressing into Nevermoor, but were unable to advance towards Reichsborg.
By the fifth month of 1728 the combined forces of the MAF, National Fryd, St. Joseph's Volunteers and various firefighting units had managed to halt the further spread of the fires beyond Burwood. Although the fires themselves were diminishing, the environmental effects were now widespread. Clouds of noxious smoke, some laden with toxic fumes from the burned-out cities, had settled over some areas. Not only was Moorland affected by these, but also neighboring areas in Anahuaco, Calbion, Mercury and the Warring Islands. The blocking of light by the smoke also mean't a longer winter, causing a later spring and damaging some crops. Face masks were distributed to the public by the government, and authorities warned people to keep their houses shut up from the outdoors until the smoke could dissipate. Health officials were running ongoing tests on drinking water and food crops in order to test for lethal toxins that may be present as a result of settling smoke fumes.
The month also brought a renewed effort to push into Reichsborg, and this effort was successful as lead by St. Joseph's Volunteers who cleared a path through the wreckage of the countryside to the city. As was expected, the city was a complete loss and forensics confirmed the deaths of the entire Eisenwald-am-Silberstrom Royal Family, Otto Eisenmann and the entirety of the Ostlandic government. Eisenmann's remains were discovered at the burned-out shell of Eisenwald Castle, while most of the others were found within various government buildings of Reichsborg. With the discovery, King MacMartin announced that Moorland would formally assume governmental authority over the remnants of Ostland. A new encampment, somewhat east of Reichsborg, was being established as a local government hub where survivors could be directed to get food and supplies or receive medical attention. This location would also serve as the garrison headquarters for St. Joseph's Volunteers.
By the seventh month of 1728, St. Joseph's Volunteers and the Theban Legion had successfully extinguished the fires in and around Reichsborg, but the city was declared a complete loss and survivors were huddled off west to St. Joseph's garrison where a shanty town had sprung up overnight. This soon took the eponymous name of St. Joseph's, after the former Nova English village on the same site. Eisenwald Castle was heavily damaged by the fires and had partly collapsed, but efforts were underway to preserve the remaining structural integrity due to its historic importance. From the north, firefighters had managed to gain steady ground as firebreaks prevented the further spread of wildfires and had allowed the isolated areas to burn out their reserves of fuel. Large sections of the forest were continuing to burn themselves out; with a little help from aerial water dumps. In the south, the Southmoor unit and firefighters, bulked by the Fryd, also continued to steadily move north. The western coast now had a clear corridor and refugees were being evaluated at camps in Copthorne, Fort Hunter, Torcastle and Detsab. As it was now evident that the fires were contained and dying out, reconnaissance teams were put on the ground to begin determining what assets would be necessary for reconstruction once the disaster was over with.
In the ninth month of 1728 the dry weather conditions finally broke with a long period of rainstorms that helped to put out a lot of the fires and smoldering sections, as well as rinse a lot of the ash from the air and dampen down the soil. The flip side to this was an increase in landslides and increased difficulty in travel, as deep sections of ash soon became quicksand-like mires. As such, travel bans were placed in effect for most of Burwood and limited to paved highways that had already been cleared of ash. Firefighting efforts also slowed as facing mud, landslides and slowed travel all became an additional liability when fighting still-active fires. Luckily by this point they had successfully isolated the remaining blazes to several zones at a total of around 2,000 acres. These, it was estimated, would soon burn themselves out, either by running out of fuel or by the rain. Thus at this point the mission had become one of simply keep the fires isolated rather than actively trying to extinguish them. This allowed efforts to begin focusing on the refugee crisis and getting shelter, medical supplies and other essentials to those who had lost their homes.
Within three months - XII.1728 - the remaining fires were under control and had been completely extinguished. A significant portion of the MAF, especially reserve units, were given orders to stand down and return to garrison so that they might rest and recuperate from the long ordeal. St. Joseph's Volunteers were ordered to their garrison at St. Joseph's to receive medical aid, shelter and recover. While there they will assist with refugees in the city. Newcastle-upon-Eastmoor began working with the newly-established Council of Burwood, which has incorporated much of the surviving nobility of Ostland, in formulating a reconstruction plan for Burwood. This will include resettlement of refugees in cities that escaped the fires, such as St. Joseph's, Copthorne, Detsab, Port Neil, Fort Hunter, Newhaven and others. Other plans include an ecological assessment and taskforce for determining the best approach to reforestation and a long-term plan to avoid future wildfires; including the possibility of controlled burns to remove flammable accumulations of duff and keeping fire breaks cleared by crews of forest rangers.
