Enlarge image
Forces fighting the flames
Photo: Robert Michael / dpa
With the devastating forest fire in the Saxon Switzerland National Park, there is still no real relief in sight.
»After light rain in the operational area in the early morning, there was a brief but heavy shower in the early afternoon.
The fire brigade comrades are still hoping for heavier rainfall with a noticeable impact on fire behavior and the general situation," said the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district office on Saturday afternoon in Pirna.
On the Czech side, too, the fire brigade is still in constant use.
On the other hand, the situation in the forest fire area in southern Brandenburg on the border with Saxony eased.
In Arzberg (Northern Saxony district) the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) got an overview on Saturday afternoon.
He encouraged the people in the affected areas.
“We stick together here.
We will overcome this serious crisis.«
Kretschmer was emotionally touched: "It takes me away because it's my home in Saxony, because I see how the people here also suffer, how they are on the verge of exhaustion." Present again in 2002 when he himself worked as a disaster relief worker for the Malteser.
He now suddenly feels this exhaustion and hopelessness again, but also the strength that existed back then.
In Saxon Switzerland, 560 emergency services fought the fire on Saturday.
This number is expected to be maintained throughout the weekend.
There are now 13 helicopters on site for fire-fighting flights.
In addition, quads have been ordered, with which the fire-fighting crews can be supplied more easily and quickly, it said.
On Friday evening, a helicopter reconnaissance flight discovered further fires with heavy smoke along the German-Czech border;
including in the Partschenhörner area, on the Großer Winterberg and on the Kleiner Zschand.
"These are currently being actively deleted," the district office announced on Saturday afternoon.
In doing so, firefighting helicopters are used in particular.
The helicopters not only extinguish on Saxon territory, but also on the Czech side, it was said.
In addition, it has been agreed with the Czech Republic that helicopters can take on water in the other area and fly over the country in the shortest possible direction to the deployment site.
Disaster alert applies in Bad Schandau and in Sebnitz
The devastating fire in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic last weekend and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park on Monday.
Disaster alert applies in the cities of Bad Schandau and Sebnitz.
According to new findings, around 150 hectares of forest are affected by the fire on the German side.
According to the authorities, four firefighters have been injured in the operation so far.
Two of them had to be hospitalized.
There have been no injuries among the population so far.
On the Czech side in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, the fire brigade stepped up their efforts.
On Saturday, 220 additional forces were pulled together from all over the Czech Republic, as a spokesman said.
The number of firefighters in the operation has increased to more than 650.
The forest fire raged over an area of 10.6 square kilometers, as confirmed by satellite images.
The Bohemian Switzerland National Park borders directly on the Saxon Switzerland.
"We will actively go into the embers, pour water over them and dig up the ground," said fire department spokesman Lukas Marvan on Czech television.
The fire-fighting work is supported by eight helicopters and five fire-fighting aircraft.
Access to large parts of the national park area has now been banned to keep onlookers away.
In the forest fire area in Brandenburg's Elbe-Elster district on the border with Saxony, however, the situation has eased according to official information.
On an area of 500 hectares there are still individual embers that have to be extinguished, according to the administrative staff of the district on Saturday morning.
dop/dpa
