Fires in Brandenburg: Hundreds of people are allowed to return to their homes

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Cloud of smoke over Treuenbrietzen not far from the district of Frohnsdorf

Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa

Brigitte Zahn pulls into the driveway with her silver VW Polo.

She spent the night with her son in Milchendorf.

40 kilometers north, safe.

When she had to leave her house on Sunday, she couldn't find her cat, the 81-year-old says.

She took her documents with her, clothes, bedding, divorce papers and two mugs of quark.

But the cat was missing.

When Brigitte Zahn talks about it, she is close to tears, but the two are already reunited.

Nothing happened to anyone, human or animal.

620 people were evacuated

Brigitte Zahn is standing in front of her front door, the shutters are still down, like on many houses in the Frohnsdorf district.

A spokeswoman for the district said that a total of 620 people had to be evacuated because their houses were too close to the forest.

Over the weekend, the fire brigade and the Bundeswehr fought the flames in Treuenbrietzen, 50 kilometers south of Potsdam.

On the ground with hoses and fire engines, in the air with helicopters.

Changing winds fanned the fire again and again in great heat and drought.

»I had to ventilate first«

Elfriede Kuring was also affected.

She has lived in Frohnsdorf since 1939, she says, and has experienced everything similar before.

During the fire in 2018, she was in the sports hall in Treuenbrietzen.

400 hectares of forest burned then, this time it is less than half.

"I never thought I'd have to experience that again." This time she went to her family.

"It's a weird feeling when you leave the house," she says, clutching the door handle with both hands.

She is anxious when she leaves the house.

"I was so glad to be able to go home again." The apartment stunk of smoke.

"I had to ventilate first."

Not far away, a fire engine is struggling through the mud in the forest near Treuenbrietzen.

The tires spin, the car slides sideways, but it doesn't get stuck.

Hundreds of meters of hose lie along the way – sleep, without water.

Everything seems calm, not hectic;

the rain on Monday gave the fire brigade a breather, and the number of emergency services has halved.

"We are standing where the fire started in 2018," says Olaf Fetz.

He is the town defense leader of Treuenbrietzen.

In front of him is a clearing, only a few trees are standing in it, the rest are burned down on the forest floor.

It smells charred.

“Back there,” says Fetz, pointing to the edge of the forest, “this time it started.” There are less than 800 meters between the two points.

Again and again, small groups drive into the forest and relieve their colleagues.

You drive past landscape protection area signs, dixi toilets and makeshift rest stops.

Beer benches are around, cola, disposable tableware, full garbage bags.

There is ammunition in the ground

A little further on there is a fire truck with three men on the roof.

The generator hums, the water hisses into the forest.

They can't get any closer to the fire because the area is a former blasting and training area.

There is ammunition in the ground - and it could explode.

There are also fallen trees everywhere.

Part from the last fire, part from the last storm.

They are food for the fire.

"You can only clean up storm damage in the area that you can enter," says Michael Knape, Mayor of Treuenbrietzen.

"The ammunition should be cleared in certain areas," he demands, but immediately admits: "It remains a generational task."

Although the flames have been banished, the fire brigade is concerned about embers.

"At a depth of 20 to 30 centimeters we still have 200 to 300 degrees," says a young man from the Lindenberg volunteer fire department.

"It's important that we water regularly." Otherwise the fire could reignite in the coming days.

Jürgen Stoppa also wanted to watch the fire – but from a safe distance.

On the first day he let his drone fly, he says.

On the third day, he checked the situation in front of his house from his daughter's apartment using the surveillance cameras.

But he saw no smoke.

All residents of Treuenbrietzen can go back to their homes.

But Mayor Knape warns: "This fire will only be properly extinguished in a few weeks."