Forest fires in Germany: only 15 minutes of rain – “the situation is still very tense”
Created: 07/31/2022, 07:24
By: Martina Lippl
For days there has been a fire in the Saxon Switzerland National Park and in Bohemian Switzerland.
Firefighting helicopters are in use.
© Robert Michael/dpa
There are fires in the Saxon Switzerland National Park and in neighboring Bohemian Switzerland.
The weather hardly helps.
In the south of Brandenburg, the emergency services have requested reinforcements.
Fight
against
forest fires
: rain does not bring relaxation in Saxon Switzerland and Bohemian Switzerland.
Forest fire
in the Elbe-Elster district
in
Brandenburg
: More emergency services have been requested.
This news ticker on the fires in
Saxon Switzerland
and the
Czech Republic
(Bohemian Switzerland) and in
Brandenburg
is continuously updated.
Bad Schandau/Falkenberg – The forest in the Saxon Switzerland National Park
and also on the Czech side,
Bohemian Switzerland
, has been burning for seven days
.
It's a tremendous feat.
On Saturday alone, 560 emergency services fought against the flames.
13 helicopters and fire-fighting aircraft support the fire-fighting work from the air.
An easing of the situation is currently not in sight.
Fight against forest fires: Saxon Switzerland and Bohemian Switzerland brings rain no relaxation
It rained heavily for only 15 minutes, said the spokesman for the district of Saxon Switzerland-Osterzgebirge, Thomas Kunz, on Saturday evening of the German Press Agency.
The only effect was that because of the precipitation, smoke rose from embers and these became visible.
"If the weather doesn't change, there's no chance of improvement," said Kunz.
An end to the operation is not in sight.
"We no longer calculate in days, we calculate in weeks," he said.
"The situation is still tense." About 150 hectares of forest are burning in Saxon Switzerland.
The fire brigades are also in constant use on the Czech side.
There burns an area of 1060 hectares.
Forest fires in Saxon Switzerland and Bohemian Switzerland (Czech Republic)
Saxon Switzerland
: About 150 hectares of forest are affected by forest fires - an area almost the size of the island of Helgoland.
Bohemian Switzerland
: There, an area of 1,060 hectares burns.
Injured in forest fires in Bohemian Switzerland and Saxon Switzerland
According to the German 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.
In the Czech forest fire area, a firefighter was hit and seriously injured by a falling tree on Saturday afternoon.
Since the forest fires began, 37 firefighters have been injured so far.
Forest fire in the Elbe-Elster district in Brandenburg: additional forces have been requested
In the forest fire area in southern Brandenburg, the emergency services have meanwhile requested reinforcements.
Because summer temperatures were predicted without significant precipitation, further fire protection units had been requested from the country, the Elbe-Elster district announced on Saturday evening.
"This situation carries the risk
of flaring fires." (ml with dpa material)
