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A policewoman blocks a road in the forest fire area in Gohrischheide
Photo: Robert Michael / dpa
A forest fire in the border area between Brandenburg and Saxony is approaching an inhabited area.
As the forest fire protection officer of the state of Brandenburg, Raimund Engel, announced, the villages of Kosilenzien and Kröbeln in the Elbe-Elster district are being evacuated.
The two districts belong to the small town of Bad Liebenwerda.
According to rbb, the Nieska district of Gröditz in the Saxon district of Meissen is also being evacuated.
The total area of the fire in Gohrischheide is now around 450 hectares.
According to the rbb, there are 50 to 100 hectares of the affected area on the Brandenburg side, and strong winds further fanned the fire.
According to a spokesman for the Lausitz operations control center in Cottbus, a forested area in Saxony first burned on Thursday evening, and later the fire spread to fields.
There has never been a similarly large forest fire in the area, said the spokeswoman for the fire brigade in Zeithain, Saxony, Dorit Riedel: "We've never had anything like this here in recent years." on site to contain the fire.
A firefighting helicopter from the Bundeswehr supported.
However, the emergency services would have withdrawn from the heath in the afternoon.
It had become too dangerous there, said Riedel.
The paths there are so narrow that only one vehicle can fit through.
If the fire then comes from the front, the retreat could become too dangerous.
It is currently a priority to protect the town of Nieska from the flames.
Ammunition load makes extinguishing work difficult
The ammunition load in the area is also problematic.
“It's an old military training ground.
Emergency services who were on site reported that there were always small explosions," said the fire department spokeswoman.
According to rbb, it had rained at times on Friday afternoon.
However, it is unclear to what extent this affects the fire.
Just last week, large areas of forest and meadows had burned in Brandenburg, at that time near the small town of Treuenbrietzen, southwest of Berlin.
A smaller forest fire also broke out in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district on Thursday.
Some residents had to evacuate their homes.
fek/dpa/AFP