Status: 01.08.2022 18:09
There has been a fire in Saxon Switzerland for weeks. Defense Minister Lambrecht has now announced that the federal government wants to bear part of the deployment costs. Saxony’s Prime Minister Kretschmer called for better prevention.
The federal government wants to contribute to the costs of using forest fires in Saxon Switzerland. Several Bundeswehr fire-fighting helicopters are also helping to fight the fires there.
“In such a situation, costs have never been settled. And that’s why I see no reason to deviate from this,” said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a visit to Schmilka in Saxony.
Lambrecht wants to talk about sharing the costs
According to the SPD politician, solidarity and support include talking about the distribution of costs in such a situation. She also spoke to the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer. “We agree that we will find a good solution,” said Lambrecht.
She was very impressed by the precision and quality of the firefighting operation. It is the Bundeswehr that shows in such situations that “we are there for each other and stand by each other”. According to Lambrecht, the helicopters should initially be available until next Sunday.
During her visit to Schmilka on the German-Czech border, the minister was briefed by the Operations Center and, together with Kretschmer and Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer, undertook a reconnaissance flight over the fire area. Meanwhile, fire-fighting helicopters flew water out of the Elbe almost every minute to extinguish the fires. “The Bundeswehr is on duty when it’s called,” said Lambrecht.
Kretschmer: “Fire left a gaping wound”
“The fire tore a gaping wound here in the national park,” said Kretschmer afterwards. Of course, nature will also heal this wound. “But we will have to deal with it for a long time”.
One will have to deal with the consequences of this for forest management, educating the population and preventive fire protection, the CDU politician continued. With a view to the future, Kretschmer said it was about getting stronger in order to be able to act quickly in the event of a forest fire.
The extinguishing work went into the second week today. The fire broke out on July 24 in the Czech National Park Bohemian Switzerland and then spread to German territory.
According to the authorities, the situation eased first in the middle of last week. However, due to the shifting wind, the fire then spread again. Even brief rain did not help.