Forest fire
“Fire out” at the Brocken – National Park takes over the fire station
Smoke rises from the operational area on the Brocken. photo
© Matthias Bein/dpa
Hundreds of emergency services were deployed, as were fire-fighting helicopters and planes. On Saturday evening the signal “fire out” came. Nevertheless, there is still a fire station.
The fire on the Brocken in the Harz Mountains was extinguished after a week. On Saturday evening, the fire chief of the city of Wernigerode gave the signal “fire off”, said Kai-Uwe Lohse, head of the Saxony-Anhalt state fire brigade, on Sunday. Despite the rain, embers could appear again and again, which is not unusual. According to Lohse, the Harz National Park is now taking over the fire service.
The fire was discovered on Saturday a week ago on the Goetheweg near the Goethebahnhof vantage point. The way to the Brocken is one of the most used hiking trails in the Harz National Park. Because of the inaccessible terrain, seven fire-fighting helicopters and two Italian fire-fighting planes fought the flames, which had meanwhile spread to 160 hectares. Hundreds of emergency services were deployed. The cause of the fire is still unclear.