major fire
Fire in Grunewald: Police rule out arson
A federal police helicopter drops water over the fire site in Grunewald. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
What caused the fire at the blast site in Berlin’s Grunewald forest? According to the police, there is no evidence of third-party negligence. Now the police are investigating.
A month after the major fire at a blasting site in Berlin’s Grunewald, the police are not assuming that it was a deliberate arson attack.
According to the first witness interviews, there is no evidence that third-party negligence is present and that someone has intruded from outside and deliberately made “manipulations”, said Police Vice President Marco Langner in the Interior Committee. “It’s very likely that we can rule that out.” However, there was no concrete evidence of how the fire started.
The more detailed investigation of the criminal police into the cause of the fire should now begin. “This week, the LKA, the BKA and the Federal Institute for Materials Research will go there and investigate the causes,” said Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD). An investigation group “EG Grunewald” was set up in the State Criminal Police Office. External experts were also hired.
On August 4, a large fire broke out at the blast site. There were numerous explosions because the police store there the dud bombs, grenades and ammunition from World War II, mostly found during construction work, as well as illegal fireworks. The extinguishing work lasted several days.