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The fire on the Brocken is being fought with fire-fighting helicopters
Photo:
Matthias Bein / dpa
Five fire-fighting helicopters and more than 300 emergency services are fighting the flames: it is an attempt to contain a major fire below the Brocken summit in the Harz Mountains.
District Administrator Thomas Balcerowski (CDU) declared a disaster on Sunday.
The fire was "not under control," said the city of Wernigerode on Sunday.
City spokeswoman Ariane Hofmann announced that the district of Harz is assuming that extinguishing work will last several days.
The fire was discovered on Saturday around 2.30 p.m. on the so-called Goetheweg near the Goethebahnhof vantage point.
The fire raged over an area of around 62 hectares.
Above all, dead spruce stands burned.
The fire reportedly broke out in an area that was difficult to access.
Numerous hikers and visitors were brought to safety
A good 50 police officers secured the area around the Brocken, which is closed to visitors.
A no-fly zone for civil air traffic has been set up on the Brocken within a radius of 40 kilometers, it said.
Because of the fire, numerous hikers and visitors were brought to safety on the Brocken on Saturday.
The town of Schierke, which belongs to Wernigerode, is not at risk, it said.
The Harz narrow-gauge railways do not go up the 1141-meter-high mountain on Sunday.
As the railway company announced on its website, there is limited train service between Wernigerode and Drei Annen Hohne.
The Goetheweg to the Brocken is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park.
Only about three weeks ago there was a fire in the Harz near the Brocken on about 13 hectares.
Around 200 firefighters were on duty at the time.
fok/AFP/dpa
