Lithuanian firefighters respond to 25 fallen tree incidents over the weekend

Lithuanian firefighters were called out 25 times across the country over the weekend to remove fallen trees, state news agency ELTA reported Monday.

The highest number of callouts—16—occurred on Friday, with Kaunas County the worst affected. Fire crews also responded to incidents in Marijampolė, Alytus, Telšiai, Tauragė, and Utena counties, according to Giedrius Vaičiulis, senior specialist at the Fire Protection and Rescue Department’s Situation Coordination Division.

Ten additional callouts were recorded on Saturday, including five in Kaunas, two in Šiauliai, and one each in other counties. Emergency requests continued into Sunday.

Early Sunday morning at 5:23 AM, police alerted firefighters to a tree blocking a road in Jadvygava village, Jonava district. The obstruction was cleared later that day. In a separate incident Sunday evening, crews in Kaunas manually removed a dangerously leaning branch in Marviliai village, Jonava district, after it was reported at risk of falling onto the road.

This year, firefighters have already conducted over 500 operations to remove fallen trees and branches. The busiest months were April (194 incidents) and May (205). Last year saw a total of 1,610 such operations, peaking in June (394) and July (209). July 2024 was particularly severe, with 1,555 tree removals following storms across the country.