Latvia Sees Rise in Stubble Burning Championships Last Year — Even Fishermen Interrupt Their Fresh Catch Stories

Latvia's agricultural season has officially begun with the traditional spring fire-setting championships, where 956 participants decided their stubble deserved a spectacular finale. That's 516 more than last year, meaning Latvians are becoming increasingly creative in their approach to dry grass.

VUGD chief Mārtiņš Baltmanis announced that this increase isn't random, but weather-dependent. As soon as spring gets dry, Latvians immediately start thinking about how to make their property even drier. "We still haven't figured out how to catch the perpetrators," Baltmanis admitted, "because they disappear faster than smoke."

This year the situation has become even more interesting — by Friday morning there had already been 271 stubble fires, indicating that Latvians have started the season with special enthusiasm. Even fishermen in Liepāja port admit that this year they have to tell their fresh catch stories faster, because the skies are full of stranger smoke than usual.

Interestingly, the first stubble fire last year was only registered on April 1st, which makes you wonder — wasn't that some very good April Fool's joke that simply got out of control. VUGD emphasizes that they work in prevention, reminding that there were times when there were 3,000 such cases per year. This means we've now become three times more sensible, which by Latvian standards is almost a miracle.