“Every battle is won before it is fought”: this quote of Sun Tzu, a former Chinese military strategist, is totally true. 

The outside temperature is a scorching 44 degree Celsius, while in front of me the flames rise up to impressive heights. A fearful spectacle of a total orange glow and fluffy smoke clouds stretches over the full horizon, rising up kilometers high in the sky.  

The heartbeat meters point out almost constantly 200 beats per minute, while my four colleagues and I swap places, one after another, to take some short rest, catching our breath and cooling down from the heat radiated by the flames, as far as we can. 

With each beat we knock out another flame, one after another, progressing along our line... almost there. Suddenly, the wind turns 180 degrees and the flames turn against us. We have to reconsider, give up our mission and retreat, once again. The landscape and the elements are today not in our favour. Facing the fire, fighting the fire is all about reading the landscape and hoping it brings in windows of opportunity.  

Last summer, I took part in the prepositioning mission of the Dutch Fire Brigade to Spain, as part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Two firefighter crews were positioned in the province of Ourense (Galicia) for two and a half weeks each. In total, 671 firefighters from 14 European countries were strategically prepositioned in high-risk areas in France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.  When I applied, in early 2025, I knew we would face the fire, but definitely not to the extent we actually encountered it during the first weeks of August.

This groundforce firefighting mission was unique for the Netherlands. We have only two handcrew teams and the main firefighting doctrine is based on rolling-stock. There has been a noticeable shift, as wildfire risks have taken off substantially in the last decade, with clear examples of how they can affect available capacities and society quite fast. 

The Netherlands is highly populated, dense and nature is all around. While in Spain, we would share experiences and learn about local techniques and tactics, mostly via training and knowledge exchange, but also in practice. It became mostly in practice, providing us with impressive experiences and the need to put things into perspective, over and over again.

When we arrived, Spain was suffering another heatwave, one of the three heatwaves experienced during summer 2025, spanning almost 36 days. Already back in May, the country had encountered record-breaking temperatures. We landed amidst the 16-day heatwave in August, with scorching 40 to 44 degrees. The landscape became a tinderbox. A single spark could lead to events of shocking proportions, and it did. 
Soon, I was in the middle of the most intense and destructive wildfires I have ever witnessed, as did the region.

Besides firefighting, I work as senior researcher and landscape architect on climate adaptation and nature-based solutions supporting different EU Mission Adaptation projects, like DesirMED. After advocating for many years for an active, integrated and resilient landscape approach, this practical experience strengthened my belief and dedication. 

Building resilient landscapes means preparing for multiple climate hazards, taking into account cascading risks as well as potential co-benefits and tradeoffs. Resilient landscapes that rely on nature-based strategies are the most promising. Nature-based solutions combine different advantages, like providing firebreaks while at the same time improving soils, biodiversity and water retention. 

Raising awareness of and mainstreaming climate adaptation solutions in regional development is a condition for securing that same development, as the regional level is where all comes together in a visible, concrete way. 

EU-funded projects like NBRACER, DesirMED, and ARCADIA are excellent examples of how to navigate towards these resilient landscapes. The aim of these projects is to help regions develop a strategy and a pathway for society, policies and institutions to team up and work towards a shared, safe future. Developing visions, practices and insights within regions, between regions, and across sectors; embracing diverse perspectives and placing the landscape and the natural systems at the forefront.

With over 103.031,70 hectares burned in Ourense (14,5% of the total province!) and over 1,003,978 hectares burned across the Mediterranean, 2025 has been another record-breaking year. An intense and destructive wildfire year, causing direct impacts, but also long-term consequences, like the current challenges with ashes and drinking water supply. It shows we are not ready yet.   

In the field, it was all about reading the fire and the landscape. What were our windows of opportunity? Mostly, these were natural features and conditions, but they worked to a limited extent. What remained was bulldozering, aerial support and long, dedicated deployment of numerous but still outnumbered resources. 

In reality, fires are fought outside the wildfire season. If we would like the landscape to work for us, we have to work on the landscape!