Two weeks after a fire broke out at a blasting site in Berlin’s Grunewald forest, the destruction in the surrounding forest is not as dramatic as feared. “I know that the forest can deal with such things quite well,” said the head of the state forest office, Gunnar Heyne, on Thursday on RBB Inforadio. Nature will help itself again very quickly. “I do hope that the deciduous trees have survived relatively well, that the oaks will sprout again.” The forest floor will “become green again very quickly if it rains again”. But many pine trees have died.
However, the forest in the immediate vicinity of the blasting site will remain closed for a long time because the explosions have thrown pieces of ammunition far and lie there. The collection is a very time-consuming work that can take several years, said Heyne.
The blasting site itself has now been fenced in again by the police. Craftsmen should restore the electricity and water supply. “It’s slowly returning to normal.” The police announced on Wednesday that they would blow up the remains of ammunition or explosives in a controlled manner as part of the clean-up work in the near future if they were not transportable.
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