The forest fires that broke out in south-west Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Monday afternoon near Lübtheen and Hagenow (both in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district) grew to 100 and 35 hectares respectively by late evening. District Administrator Stefan Sternberg (SPD) said this at a press conference. He declared a catastrophe for Lübtheen. Around 500 firefighters fought the flames at both locations.
In 2019, the largest forest fire in the history of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania raged on almost 1000 hectares on a former military training area near Lübtheen. The Viezer Heide near Hagenow is also a former military area. Both areas are munitions contaminated. There were detonations.
The village of Volzrade, which belongs to Lübtheen and is home to around 160 people, was evacuated in the evening. The fire was said to be about 800 meters from the houses by nightfall. Water is brought to the areas to protect the houses from the flames. The situation is even more difficult than in the major fire four years ago, it said. Due to the fire at that time there was a lot of dead wood in the forest, which is now burning massively. Greater heat develops, which penetrates deeper into the ground and causes old ammunition to explode where you really didn’t expect it.
Sternberg said they hope the former so-called Panzerringstraße – a wide, bare swath around the former military compound – would stop the fire. Gusty winds exacerbated the situation. State Minister of Agriculture Till Backhaus (SPD) said in Lübtheen that after the major fire in 2019, more than 15 million euros had been invested in the site to improve fire protection. Among other things, about 15 wells were drilled. Lack of extinguishing water was a problem in 2019. According to the information, State Interior Minister Christian Level (SPD) was on his way to the scene of the fire late in the evening. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) wants to come on Tuesday morning.