Brandenburg
Forest fire near Jüterbog is expanding
The forest near Jüterbog is on fire. photo
© Michael Bahlo/dpa
Flames blaze in the forest near Jüterbog, clouds of smoke rise. The extinguishing operation of the fire brigade is difficult because of the ammunition load. A quick end is not in sight.
With the forest fire that has been raging for days at a former military training area near Jüterbog, the situation worsened on Saturday. A quick end to the firefighting operation is not foreseeable. The area affected by the flames has increased significantly.
There are now over 150 hectares, said a spokeswoman for the city of Jüterbog on Saturday evening. In the morning it was said that there was a fire on a total of 45 hectares. The fire brigade is trying to stop the fire that started on Wednesday from the ground – not an easy task due to the ammunition load in the area.
Operations manager Rico Walentin said: “There was stronger wind today than in the past few days and higher temperatures.” Therefore, the fire spread faster on Saturday. “If the weather stays like this, we expect the spread to continue.” However, the nearest towns are still far away.
At the same time, the fire brigade had to fight a fire in Kloster Zinna, a district of the small town of Jüterbog, on Saturday. Four hectares are affected there, said Valentin. “The fire is out now, but the thick floor is still smoking. A lot of water has to be on the surface.”
Great risk of explosion
At the former military training area in Brandenburg, the emergency services are still unable to get to the fire in the forest because the risk of explosion is too great. “One is frustrated,” said Valentin. Firefighting planes that took off on Thursday and Friday were no longer in use. “We no longer had the desired effect with fire-fighting aircraft, it wasn’t massive enough,” said the operations manager.
The fire brigade is trying to stop the fire on the so-called forest fire protection strips, said the head of the public order office, Christiane Lindner-Klopsch, as a spokeswoman for the city. These are about 30 meters wide aisles in the forest, also with driveways. Certain strips have been cleared of easily combustible material such as brushwood and branches, among other things, and are intended to help stop the fires.
Drones are also still in use to provide information about the extent of the fire, said Lindner-Klopsch. A quad helps with reconnaissance in the field.
According to Walentin, the use of firefighting and armored recovery vehicles from a private provider is also being examined. However, it is still unclear whether this is possible and sensible, he said. “Ammunition is everywhere on the site and we don’t know where.” There is also a lot of dead wood on the ground. “It’s like a big game of Mikado.” It is not easy to cut a path in the forest with tanks.
Rain is not in sight
The Brandenburg forest fire protection officer Raimund Engel said it was not foreseeable that the fire could be extinguished quickly. He expects higher temperatures on Sunday, and there is no sign of rain. The forest fire risk for Brandenburg remains high.
The area affected by the forest fire is part of a large area owned by the Brandenburg Natural Landscape Foundation. It secures former military training areas for nature conservation. The managing director of the Foundation for Natural Landscapes, Andreas Meißner, said that the “heart” of the wilderness area was affected. From a nature conservation point of view, it is very unfortunate that the areas would burn again.
There have already been fires in the area in 2018 and 2019. The forest fire protection system, for example with fire-retardant protective strips, has been well expanded there, said Meißner. There are wells every two kilometers, so that the fire brigade has short ways to get water.