The situation in Saxony remains tense due to the forest fires there. Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) is now even canceling his vacation and wants to return to Dresden on Friday.
As government spokesman Ralph Schreiber announced, Kretschmer would like to travel to Saxon Switzerland with Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) in the late afternoon to get an idea of ​​the extent of the fire on site. The fire brigade and civil protection workers have been held in suspense by a fire in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains for days. A second rages on the Saxon-Brandenburg state border
In the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the efforts of the fire brigade are currently concentrating on preventing the flames from spreading to other areas.
On Thursday evening, fire nests were also discovered and extinguished on the other side of the Kirnitzsch river, said the spokesman for the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district, Thomas Kunz, in the morning. The firefighters had actually hoped that the Kirnitzsch would act as a natural barrier for the fire.
In the city of Sebnitz, a disaster alarm was therefore triggered on Friday night. In Bad Schandau in Saxon Switzerland, this has been in effect since Tuesday. With the triggering of the disaster alarm, the emergency services can be better coordinated and access to other emergency services for extinguishing work can be ensured, it said.
More than 220 firefighters fought the blaze in the morning. During the day, other emergency services should arrive from other parts of the country. Seven firefighting helicopters are in use. At the weekend, two more helicopters are to be added to extinguish the fire. In the state capital Dresden, about 30 kilometers away, there was a clear smell of burning in the air on Friday morning.
According to the information, about 250 hectares of forest are on fire. The fire broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic over the weekend and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park on Monday.
Sweden provided two fire-fighting aircraft to fight the fire in the Czech National Park Bohemian Switzerland. According to the Czech fire brigade, the Air Tractor AT802F machines can each absorb 3,000 liters of water. Since the fire broke out on the Czech side on Sunday, around 1,000 hectares of forest have already gone up in flames. More than 450 firefighters are on duty there every day. The fire is not yet under control.
