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Forest fire area in Jüterbog

Photo: IMAGO/Bernd MÅ rz / IMAGO/Bernd März

The situation in the forest fire area near Jüterbog south of Berlin remains tense. On Saturday, emergency services continued to try to contain the fire on the ammunition-laden former military training area. Extinguishing work was also continued from the air.

Since noon, the Bundeswehr has been supporting the firefighters on the ground with two helicopters. A helicopter of the Federal Police was also used. In the evening, a fire watch was set up for the night, the helicopters were initially withdrawn and should be used again on Sunday morning, as the operational management announced on request. For the night, no aggravation of the situation is expected for the time being, it said. On Sunday morning, the situation on the ground should be reassessed, also with the help of a drone.

The extinguishing work is concentrated in particular on the surroundings of the village of Altes Lager in the municipality of Niedergörsdorf in the district of Teltow Fläming. A thunderstorm brought some rain, but according to the incident management, no easing of the situation.

Ammunition load complicates extinguishing work

Strong winds had fanned the flames again and again in the past few days. According to the spokesman for the operations management, Silvio Ramlow, the fire area of 718 hectares has not spread further since last night. The fire area includes burnt areas as well as currently burning areas. 10 hectares in an area in the direction of Frankenförde have been added.

Due to the ammunition load in certain areas, firefighters can only extinguish the fire from specially created paths. These are constantly irrigated. There is a risk of explosion on the former military training area. Northeast and southwest of the area, two ammunition-contaminated areas would be closely controlled, said the spokesman for the operational management. "There are no explosions at the moment." Localities are still not threatened.

There has been a fire on the former military training area for eleven days. On Friday, with the proclamation of the major emergency, the district had taken over the operational management. This makes it possible to ask emergency services from other areas for support because their own forces cannot cope with the situation on their own. Previously, the city of Jüterbog had led the operation.

The extent of the fire at Jüterbog is visible from the number of firefighting flights by the Federal Police alone. According to their information, around 80,000 litres of extinguishing water were dropped on Friday during 44 approaches. Since the beginning of June, around 362,000 litres of water have been used to provide on-site support.

Flames reach previously spared areas

"Now we have come into areas that have not yet burned and have so far been spared," warned the country's forest fire protection officer, Raimund Engel, on Saturday. The firefighters tried to contain the flames at the built aisles. Engel did not rule out that the fire could still spread because of high temperatures and the wind.

The risk of forest fires is currently high throughout Brandenburg. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the highest danger level 5 was in effect on Saturday in the districts of Spree-Neisse, Oberspreewald-Lausitz and Uckermark, and the second highest level 4 in the other districts. The forest fire protection officer also sees a high danger for the coming week, because the forecasts of the German Weather Service were based on drought and hardly any precipitation.

According to Engel, 130 fires have already blazed since the beginning of the forest fire season – a jump compared to May's 57 fires. The season starts in March and lasts until September. "We have to get to small fires so that they don't get big. Early detection of forest fires is the be-all and end-all," he emphasized. Two forest fire control centres in Brandenburg monitor the incident from danger level 3. In addition to Zossen in the south, there is the Eberswalde (Barnim) site. More than 100 sensors are designed to detect smoke development at an early stage.

ktz/dpa