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Helicopter deployment in the Elbe-Elster district
near Falkenberg, Brandenburg .
In Brandenburg, the forest and meadow fire has now spread to more than 800 hectares, and a total of around 350 firefighters are deployed here.
Eight of them are said to have been injured during the extinguishing work, four firefighters came to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
Residents in the area had to prepare for an evacuation.
Karl-Heinz Höhne, resident
»I packed everything, important papers, pills and medication, everything you need, and then we'll see.
We're sitting on the suitcases."
For the towns of Kölsa and Rehfeld, the evacuations were lifted on Tuesday afternoon.
The evacuation of a total of three towns was ordered on Monday, affecting around 700 residents.
The authorities had previously declared a major damage situation.
The fire also destroyed parts of a piglet farm, three stalls burned down.
According to initial estimates, the number of animals that died was between one and two thousand.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Favored by strong gusts of wind, it spread quickly in a forested area with wind turbines.
At least one wind turbine is within the fire area, other wind turbines are at risk.
The fire is still not under control, and according to initial estimates, the extinguishing work will take a long time.
Steffen Ludewig, Elbe-Elster district fire brigade
»We will still be available here for a few more days and will have to arrange this manually.
By tackling it, going into the wooded areas with spades and picks and liquidating the source of the fire there.«
Brandenburg's interior minister estimates that it will take weeks for the fire to be completely extinguished.
At the site of the outbreak southwest of the area of operation, small fires had broken out several times in the past few weeks.
The current weather situation is problematic: strong winds that pick up quickly make extinguishing work more difficult and fan the fire again and again.
