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Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The fire in a tree house in the Hambach Forest with an injured climate activist was "apparently" triggered by a stove in the accommodation, according to North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul.
"It looks very much like that," said the CDU politician on Thursday in the interior committee of the NRW state parliament in Düsseldorf.
"We warned against such a thing."
The stove was installed in the tree house, which was around 15 meters high.
The 32-year-old resident of the tree house was seriously injured in the fire on Monday evening.
The Hambach Forest is a symbol of the conflict between climate protectors and the coal industry.
It was temporarily evacuated in autumn 2018 in one of the largest police operations in recent NRW state history.
The reason given for the controversial action was the lack of fire protection and danger to life and limb of the forest occupiers.
It is now planned that the forest area will be preserved and not cleared for coal mining.
Police report from January 12th