Forest fire in Treuenbrietzen calls for village evacuation

Created: 06/19/2022Updated: 06/19/2022 13:01

The police are asking residents in Tiefenbrunnen to leave their homes.

© Thomas Schulz/TNN/dpa

The forest near Treuenbrietzen, which was contaminated with ammunition, burned on more than 100 hectares.

Residents of nearby villages have had to leave their homes or at least prepare for evacuation.

Potsdam/Treuenbrietzen – Because of the impending danger from the nearby forest fire near Frohnsdorf, southwest of Berlin, the residents of Tiefenbrunnen had to leave their homes on Sunday morning.

The evacuation has started, said a spokesman for the Potsdam-Mittelmark district's disaster management team.

About 20 citizens are affected.

They had already been warned on Saturday and were able to prepare.

Those affected can stay in accommodation provided by the town of Treuenbrietzen.

The villages Frohnsdorf and Tiefenbrunnen belong to Treuenbrietzen.

The Frohnsdorfer have now been informed of a possible evacuation, it said.

"The situation is very dynamic and is constantly changing."

Because ammunition and explosive ordnance lie in the ground on the site - a former blasting and training area - the firefighters cannot get close to the fire.

If the fire goes through the area, ammunition hidden in the ground can explode.

In addition, self-ignition is possible.

Firefighters can therefore not simply drive into the forest area and put out the fire there.

You would put your life in danger.

A complete clearing of the site from explosive ordnance would cause immense costs.

The area affected by the forest fire had expanded on Sunday night.

"A helicopter surveyed the area.

About 100 to 110 hectares are now affected.

The fire has spread to the east/southeast," a fire department spokesman said on Sunday morning.

However, the intensity of the flames has decreased.

On Friday, a forest fire broke out on about 60 hectares, on Saturday it was still a good 40 hectares.

The federal highway 102 therefore marks a boundary line that is defended by the fire brigade.

The fire could not spread beyond the closed road.

The emergency services are worried about the weather forecast for Sunday afternoon.

"Gusts and wind could occur," said the spokesman.

Telekom said it wanted to use a mobile transmission mast to improve communication between the emergency services.

Bundeswehr helicopters flew over the fire area until 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, the Air Force announced on Twitter.

In more than 23 fire-fighting flights, 115,000 liters of water were drained.

The extinguishing water was taken from a nearby quarry pond.

The helicopters came from the helicopter squadron from Holzdorf near Leipzig.

In 2018, around 400 hectares of forest were destroyed in a forest fire in Treuenbrietzen.

The flames raged for several days.

At that time, more than 500 people had to leave the villages of Frohnsdorf, Klausdorf and Tiefenbrunnen.

dpa