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Potsdam (dpa / bb) - After the largely dry weather of the past few days, the risk of forest fires in Brandenburg increases significantly.
On Tuesday, the third level (medium risk) is expected to be reached in 9 of the 14 districts, reported the state's forest fire protection officer, Raimund Engel, on request.
On Monday, the medium danger level prevailed in four counties.
There are a total of five warning levels.
According to Engel, the forecast is updated daily at 8:00 a.m.
The reason for the increasing risk of forest fires is the mostly dry and sunny weather with low humidity.
Dry leaves or grass can quickly go up in flames.
"At the moment there are more fires on the wasteland, mostly from negligence," explained Engel.
A large campfire was seen on Monday in the Elsterland (Elbe-Elster) office.
The police were also called in.
The onset of winter with a lot of snow had changed little in the dryness of the Brandenburg forests, reported Engel.
"Only the top soil layer was moistened - agriculture may benefit from this, for example in the cultivation of grain," he reported.
"But if you dig deeper, where the trees are rooted, the soil is still very dry."
This is a consequence of the past three, very dry years.
"This leads to drought stress in the forests, trees will die," warned the expert.
"When it gets hot and dry again, forest fires must be expected."
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According to Engel, there were 512 forest fires in Brandenburg in 2018 on a total area of 1,674.1 hectares.
In 2019 there were 429 fires on a total area of 1388.6 hectares.
In the past year, however, there were only 299 forest fires on a very small total area of 118.5 hectares.
"It was also very dry last year, but rain showers relieved the strain," explained Engel.
"The showers were not able to solve the basic problem of the great drought in the soil."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210309-99-743614 / 2
Forest fire hazard levels