Several hectares of a forest area on the border of Bavaria and Thuringia caught fire on Tuesday. A police spokeswoman was initially unable to say exactly how large the affected area is. The fire appears to be of a fairly large scale. There were initially no reports of injuries. The fire brigade was busy putting out the fire in the afternoon.
According to a spokesman for the Integrated Control Center (ILS) in Coburg, “a lot of fire brigades” were on site. Helicopters or planes were initially not used in the extinguishing work.
A fire between the Bavarian Nordhalben (Kronach district) and the Thuringian Wurzbach (Saale-Orla district) was under control in the afternoon. According to a police spokesman, the fire brigade was only busy with post-extinguishing work. However, a short time after the first fire was reported by a passer-by, a second forest fire was reported a few kilometers away – in the immediate vicinity of the national border.
Spokespersons from the police and ILS were initially unable to provide any information on the extent. Several firefighters are on site, but the affected area is in the middle of the forest. Because of the persistent drought and in parts a very high risk of forest fires, the district government of Upper Franconia had ordered observation flights for Tuesday. Authorities urged forest visitors to exercise extreme caution. In the past few days, several Bavarian district governments had ordered corresponding observation flights.