Summit meeting in Potsdam
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Brandenburg gets competence center against forest fires
Better cooperation, forest conversion, more extinguishing water – Brandenburg wants to arm itself even better against forest fires. The government presented its plans for this on Thursday. The federal government also announced help.
- Brandenburg should get a forest fire competence center
- Areas contaminated with ammunition should be cleared more quickly
- According to the Ministry of the Environment, forest conversion is particularly effective against forest fires
Brandenburg should be one Forest Fire Competence Center to get. Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) said on Thursday after a meeting in Potsdam attended by representatives of the federal, state, local authorities, fire brigade, federal police and armed forces. Woidke explained that the experiences of the past year had shown that closer cooperation was urgently needed.
Prevention, planning and better coordination
“In 2022 the situation was more dangerous for people than ever before,” said Woidke. The operations have so far been unique in the history of the state of Brandenburg. “But due to the climatic changes and also due to the experiences of the last few years, I fear that it will not remain unique.”
The forest fire competence center should be about prevention, planning operations and better coordination among the organizations. However, the government did not give a concrete timetable.
Ministry: Forest conversion particularly effective against forest fires
Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD), who also attended the meeting in Potsdam, said she wanted to support the fire brigades. Your ministry can help water management systems to develop, so even in hot summers enough extinguishing water is available. The federal government can also support the development of new tree varieties that will help ensure that forest conversion will continue to be successful in the future and that there will be healthy forests in Germany.
According to the Brandenburg Ministry for the Environment and Climate, measures to prevent forest fires are 100 percent funded. According to the ministry, the forest conversion at. The aim is above all more deciduous and mixed forests with different tree species. A total of around 317 million euros have been spent on this since 1990, it said. Around 145 million euros of this was used in private forests.
290,000 hectares contaminated with munitions
Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) announced more efforts to reduce Brandenburg’s high exposure to old ammunition. Here he hopes for that too financial support from the federal government. Brandenburg alone is overwhelmed with this legacy, said Stübgen.
290,000 hectares of forest area in Brandenburg are considered according to the state government ammunition loaded – that means every third hectare of forest. This makes it more difficult for the fire brigades to extinguish the fire, as they sometimes cannot enter areas at all.
Vogel: Settlements must be better protected
Brandenburg also wants settlements better protect against fire in the middle of pine forests, as Agriculture and Forestry Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) said on Thursday. Villages were also at risk in the summer 2022 fires. In the future, municipalities should Distance regulations to the forest according to Vogel’s plan.
Five major fires in three counties
There were a particularly large number of forest fires in Brandenburg last year, and the Bundeswehr also provided aerial support. Hundreds of firefighters were deployed. Fire crews found it difficult to get to the flames because of old ammunition in the ground. No other federal state is considered to be as heavily contaminated with explosive ordnance as Brandenburg.
According to information from the Ministry of the Interior and the State Chancellery, there were in Brandenburg last year 507 forest fires on a total area of almost 1,500 hectares. be underneath five major fires in three counties. According to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate, the districts were particularly affected, with two major fires each Elbe magpie with 740 hectares burned areas and Potsdam-Mittelmark with 410 hectares burned areas.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, January 12, 2023, 1:34 p.m