A forest fire in Rheinsberg (Ostprignitz-Ruppin) caused heavy smoke on Thursday. According to the first information from the fire brigade, around five hectares of forest in the Schwanow district were on fire.

Fire brigades throughout the district are on duty, a spokesman said. The police spoke of two to three hectares. A police helicopter with a thermal imaging camera flew over the area, said a spokesman at the situation center in Potsdam.

In addition to firefighters, police officers and employees of the public order office are also on site. Some residents have had to evacuate their homes as a precaution. These are buildings that are in the immediate vicinity of the fire. The police initially did not assume that the flames could spread to the houses.

The regional control center of the fire brigade issued a danger report. She called on residents in Rheinsberg and in Neuruppin to the south to keep windows and doors closed and to switch off ventilation and air conditioning.

Rheinsberg with almost 8000 inhabitants is located in the Rheinsberg Lake District in northern Brandenburg and is a popular holiday area.

The Lausitz control center reported further forest fire operations in the south of Brandenburg on Thursday afternoon and in the early evening on Twitter in Bad Liebenwerda, Herzberg (Elster) and in Mühlberg/Elbe.

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A fire brigade near Beelitz caused disruptions in regional traffic on Thursday. As reported by Deutsche Bahn on Twitter, the route between Beelitz-Heilstätten and Michendorf was temporarily closed to the RE7 on Thursday.

According to the police, after the dangerous forest fire last weekend near Beelitz, individual embers flared up again on Thursday. The situation is under control, said a police spokesman in the evening.