The forest fire in the Lieberoser Heide in Brandenburg has spread to 30 hectares.

Reasons are a changing wind direction and the great drought, said a spokeswoman for the Dahme-Spreewald district on Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 215 firefighters were deployed to put out the fire.

After the forest fire broke out in the Lieberoser Heide in south-east Brandenburg, the fire brigade was prepared for a longer-lasting mission from the start.

Operations manager Christian Liebe said on Tuesday that, in his estimation, the firefighting would last at least until Wednesday.

Rain is only announced for Thursday.

Since the area is polluted with ammunition, the fire brigade cannot enter the area, but can only extinguish it from the edges.

The fire broke out in the Lieberoser Heide on Monday.

Initially, an area of ​​13 hectares was mentioned.

It is also extinguished from the air with the help of a helicopter.

Brandenburg's Minister of Forestry and Climate Protection, Axel Vogel (Greens), called for the forest to be converted more quickly with significantly more deciduous trees.

Second highest warning level

"The emergency services have the situation on site under control," said a spokeswoman for the Dahme-Spreewald district on Tuesday.

There is no danger for the population either.

District Administrator Stephan Loge, who got an idea of ​​the situation himself, said: "Experience over the past few years shows us that the fire is insidious due to the unpredictability and the high level of drought." In the summer of 2019, the fire brigade had to fight a forest fire in the Lieberoser Heide - around 30 kilometers north of Cottbus - fought.

Forest fire warning level 4 is currently in effect in the Dahme-Spreewald district - the second highest.

Brandenburg's Agriculture Minister Vogel emphasized the importance of forest conversion on Tuesday's RBB Inforadio.

There are still 80 percent pine forests.

"Bringing in deciduous trees is the order of the day." A total of 600,000 hectares of coniferous forest would have to be converted, but currently it is less than 5,000 hectares per year.

That's not enough.

The conversion must be done within a generation because of climate change, said Vogel. "Otherwise we may soon have no more forests in Brandenburg." In total, Brandenburg has more than one million hectares of forest areas.