Fighting the large forest fire in the Elbe-Elster district continues with regional forces.
The so-called major damage situation for Kölsa-Rehfeld was lifted on Monday, the responsibility now lies with the Bad Liebenwerda association, as the district announced in the morning.
The situation on site had eased continuously a week after the fire broke out, the situation was stable, it said. So far, the district has been in charge of operations and, having classified the fire area as a major damage situation, has been able to ask emergency services from other areas for support because its own forces cannot cope with the situation on their own.
The fire broke out last Monday and quickly spread to around 800 hectares – an area about four times the size of Monaco. According to the district on Sunday afternoon, emergency services continued to fight embers on 500 hectares. Some help brought rain on Saturday night. The creation of protective strips also contributed to easing the situation. “Everything was done against a large and uncontrollable risk of spread.”
Around 200 firefighters are still fighting the fire on site. The heat development in the ground can still be observed, the last embers have to be found and extinguished, it said. The area on the border with Saxony should continue to be “closely” controlled, the district announced on Sunday evening.
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