With a large-scale operation, the fire brigade brought a forest and field fire under control near Bad Saarow in the Brandenburg district of Oder-Spree. A spokesman for the Oderland regional control center reported on Wednesday afternoon that the flames did not spread further and would now be fought from the ground by fire-fighting crews. The fire area is about eleven hectares in size. Settlements are not endangered.
The fire broke out on Wednesday in a forest area east of Bad Saarow on Scharmutzelsee and also spread to fields, the spokesman said. The fire crews are deployed with more than 30 vehicles and could have contained the fire. Since the fire area is contaminated with ammunition, the firefighters cannot enter it and can only contain the fire from the outside.
Coal phase-out, climate change, sector coupling: The briefing for the energy and climate sector. For decision makers
The Oderland regional control center sent an official warning because of the smoke. Residents are asked to keep doors and windows closed. The source of the fire is therefore in the direction of the district of Annenhof.
The large forest fires near Beelitz and Treuenbrietzen in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district affected 200 hectares of forest in June. There, too, the extinguishing work was made more difficult by ammunition loads in the fire area.
A forest fire broke out north of Berlin on Wednesday night. At the height of the federal road 96 at the entrance to Nassenheide, a forest of about 6000 square meters was on fire until the morning. This was announced by the Northeast Integrated Control Center in Brandenburg via the official warning portal on the Internet.
There was a lot of smoke associated with the fire. Drivers should exercise particular caution and attention when passing the fire, it said. Nassenheide is north of Oranienburg, a good 20 kilometers from the Berlin city limits.
The fire was extinguished around 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, said a spokesman for the regional control center. The fire brigade then canceled the danger warning.
Because of the high temperatures and persistent drought, the highest forest fire risk level 5 now applies throughout Brandenburg. The Oberhavel district was still level 4 the day before, but the warning has now been tightened here as well.
In the forest fire control center there are always new alarms for smaller fires, the state’s forest fire protection officer, Raimund Engel, reported on Tuesday to the German Press Agency.
[More from Berlin and everything that moves Germany and the world: With our app you can now set your news even more precisely. Download here now for Apple and Android devices.]
Because of the “very high risk of fire”, everything that could lead to a fire in the forest and in the fields should be avoided, according to an official hazard notification. “The smallest spark can trigger a disaster. Human activity causes more than 90 percent of all forest fires.”
