Switzerland announced the emergency merger in Bern on Tuesday, unveiling what officials called the first shared Alpine fire service as smoke from blazes in the south and east drifted over Zurich, Geneva and Milan. The new Alpine Fire Relay is due to begin operating at midnight, with access to satellite alerts, aircraft and emergency crews across five countries.
The Swiss government will pay CHF 1.5 billion (about €1.6 billion) for a 61% stake in private monitoring operator AlpTrace, then fold its staff and equipment into the 35-year-old Alpine Ember Compact. France, Italy, Austria and Slovenia have signed the transfer, which replaces a pact due to expire on 30 November with a permanent command centre in Lugano.
The announcement follows a record season: the Relay’s preliminary count puts 4,700 fires across the Alpine arc and nearby regions since January, with 410,000 hectares burned by 31 October. Smoke monitors measured unhealthy fine-particle levels in parts of 11 metropolitan areas this week; a model from the Swiss Alpine Climate Institute estimates 18 million people could experience at least one day of dangerous air by 15 December.
A season with no clear end
Fulvio Palmieri-Benedetti, a fire-weather researcher at the institute, said the deal was “a magnificent leap from watching the flames to getting ahead of them”. But the institute’s new projection warns that another 190,000 hectares could burn by 15 December if dry winds continue and rain stays below half its seasonal average. The worst case in its modelling sends smoke into 22 million people’s homes and workplaces across six countries.
We have built a fire service for a season that scientists say may no longer have an off-switch.
Fulvio Palmieri-Benedetti, fire-weather researcher
The Relay will combine satellite heat maps, local air-quality sensors and daily forecasts, then send aircraft and crews to fires across borders without waiting for separate national dispatch approvals. Its first emergency meeting is expected to consider temporary burn bans, limits on outdoor work during smoke peaks and opening filtered-air rooms in public buildings. Swiss authorities have also prepared guidance for schools and care homes.
Officials urge calm as haze spreads
Swiss emergency coordinator Jonas Abraham said there was no reason for residents to change daily plans unless local authorities issued advice. “The air readings are serious in a handful of places, but this is not a blanket emergency,” he said. Palmieri-Benedetti disputed the reassurance, saying the monitors had recorded repeated pollution spikes before dawn, when smoke settles into valleys and can linger after flames are no longer visible.
In Ticino, the southern canton where several fires remain active, a low grey veil hung over Biasca on Tuesday afternoon and the peaks above the town were barely visible. Linda Lauryna, who runs a bakery there, said customers had begun asking whether the haze would last through the week. The new service’s first test will be whether its cross-border alerts can move resources faster than the smoke moves toward the next city.
