Because of the major fire south of Rehfeld in the Elbe-Elster district, the first residents of neighboring towns had to leave their homes. The administrative staff of the district ordered the evacuation of Rehfeld in the early evening. Around 200 people were affected. Later, this precautionary measure would also be ordered for Kölsa and Kölsa-Siedlung in the town of Falkenberg (Elster). Around 400 people are affected there.
“The measure was assessed as necessary because the wind also fuels the fire and moves it in the direction of the localities,” it said. The major fire continues to spread dynamically and has moved up to 400 meters from the locality in Kölsa and the Kölsa settlement. The district announced that the fire had now moved up to 150 meters to the Rehfeld site.
The fire had previously been classified as a major damage situation, and the management is now in the hands of the district. Within a very short time, the fire had spread from around 10 hectares to an area of ​​around 100 hectares.
There is a fire in the forest between wind turbines, at least one system is within the fire area, other wind turbines are at risk, reported the deputy forest fire protection officer Philipp Haase on Monday to the German Press Agency. There is a lot of smoke that can be seen from afar, Haase described.
According to the district, various forces such as fire protection trains, catering units and helicopters are currently being requested for support. The situation is very confusing due to strong winds, said Haase.
The biggest forest fire of the year so far in Elbe-Elster and Brandenburg occurred at the end of June on the border with Saxony in Gohrischheide – around 20 kilometers away. The fire had spread in the direction of Mühlberg (Elbe-Elster) in Brandenburg. More than 800 hectares were at times in flames. The locations of Kröbeln and Kosilenzien in the town of Bad Liebenwerda had to be evacuated in the meantime.
At Gransee, north of Berlin in the Oberhavel district, the fire brigade fought a fire on around 60 hectares of fields and forests. It was contained and is now under control, according to the forest fire protection expert. It is estimated that up to 100 emergency services were on site, as a spokesman for the Northeast regional control center announced. There is still remedial work to be done. A police helicopter flew over the area with a thermal imaging camera.
The emergency services of the fire brigade in Brandenburg are currently fighting several forest fires – some of which were caused by arson. The police said that this was the case with a series of fires in the Oranienburg area (Oberhavel).
Within a few days there had been numerous small fires in close proximity to each other. Traces have been secured, said Christin Knospe, spokeswoman for the police department north of the German Press Agency on Monday. “We check the connections.”
According to the Ministry of the Environment, human activity causes more than 90 percent of all forest fires with up to 99 percent of the areas damaged by forest fires. “That causes us massive problems,” reported Deputy Forest Fire Protection Officer Philipp Haase on Monday.
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According to the Ministry of the Environment, the highest level of forest fire risk was five in almost the entire country on Monday. Only in Potsdam-Mittelmark was the second highest level four. Brandenburg has a forest area of ​​around 1.1 million hectares.
In the Lieberoser Heide, the emergency services are still doing post-extinguishing work after the big fire on an area of ​​90 hectares three weeks ago. There are still up to 20 smaller fires, said Haase.
