Criticism of the district administrator's statement about arsonists: No “nailholes”

Maybe he didn't mean it as harmlessly as it sounded. But the statement by District Administrator Sandro Zehner (CDU) about the arsonist, who is presumably responsible for several fires in the Rheingau-Taunus district this hot summer, fails. He was a “tough guy,” said the CDU politician. In fact, his choice of words misses the seriousness of the matter.

We look to France, to Spain, to Portugal. See entire walls of fire that resemble an inferno and think: how terrible. And it's good that that's not the case with us. This is a fallacy. Our fires in the local forests are not nearly as extensive and they do not (yet) reach any residential areas. Don't destroy any houses or livelihoods. But that may just be a matter of time and luck.

Arsonists are playing with people's lives

Because where fires are deliberately set in dry vegetation, a possible catastrophe is not far away. Anyone who is familiar with the dynamics of forest fires knows that even in Germany, small fires can quickly develop into wildfires. The interaction of heat, drought and the correspondingly vulnerable fuel material poses a similar risk in extreme summers like this as in southern climes. The view does not have to extend to southern Europe. Sensitivity should also be high in native wooded areas, which is what we can expect in the worst case scenario.

That’s why fire devils aren’t “tough guys”. You are playing with people's lives. And not only that. They challenge a system that, like the fire department in rural areas, is based almost exclusively on voluntary work. The same applies to the infrastructure, which is particularly challenged in times like these, when we are talking about the risk of hybrid attacks, from major blackouts, to the risks of extreme weather conditions, to heavy rain, floods and severe storms.

The fact that a society affords to place the security of such an important infrastructure in voluntary hands is a sign of the state's trust in its citizens. In those who don't allow themselves any leisure time apart from work and family, but rather commit themselves excessively in crisis situations. This achievement deserves respect.

Those who consciously challenge and trample on the system through criminally relevant behavior such as setting fires must be dealt with accordingly by the rule of law. The suspicion of deliberate ignition is not only in Hesse, but everywhere in Germany. There, too, the arsonists are perpetrators and not “tough guys”.