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Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer (2nd from left) and Interior Minister Schuster (right, both CDU) and Federal Defense Minister Lambrecht (SPD) are informed about the forest fire situation
Photo:
Sebastian Kahnert / dpa
The federal government wants to continue to support the state in fighting the forest fire in Saxon Switzerland.
Several Bundeswehr helicopters are also helping to extinguish the fire.
“In a situation like this, costs have never been accounted for.
And that's why I don't see any reason to deviate from it," said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) during a visit to Schmilka.
Not far from the German-Czech border town, forest fires are raging in both Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland.
A week after the outbreak, the extinguishing work continues.
"The situation is stable, but embers are always being discovered," said the spokesman for the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district office, Thomas Kunz, at the request of the German Press Agency.
The main task is now to fight the embers in the ground with barriers.
Lambrecht praises the use of the Bundeswehr
According to Lambrecht, solidarity and support include talking about the distribution of costs in such a situation.
She also spoke to the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer (CDU).
"We agree that we will find a good solution," said Lambrecht.
She was very impressed by the precision and quality of the firefighting operation.
It is the Bundeswehr that shows in such situations that "we are there for each other and stand by each other".
According to Lambrecht, the helicopters should initially be available until next Sunday.
"The fire tore a gaping wound here in the national park," said Kretschmer afterwards.
Of course, nature will also heal this wound.
“But we will have to deal with it for a long time.” One will have to deal with the consequences that this has for forest management, educating the population and preventive fire protection.
The point is to position yourself more strongly in order to be able to act quickly in the event of a forest fire.
During the extinguishing work, the ground is first turned by hand with a spade and a foam carpet is spread out from the air.
»This is supposed to allow the moisture to penetrate deep into the ground and extinguish the embers.
The fire literally moves on in the ground under the emergency services, "explained district office spokesman Kunz.
Up to 15 helicopters are in use.
In addition to the machines that drop extinguishing water on the source of the fire from the air, there are reconnaissance flights.
"With their thermal imaging cameras, they deliver live images of embers to the operations center," explained Kunz.
Breathe easy in Arzberg
The fire broke out a week ago in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park last Monday.
In the meantime, after heavy rainfall, the fire situation in Arzberg in the district of North Saxony has eased significantly.
"The fire brigade operation ended yesterday and our support forces were also released from the operation," the police said on Twitter.
The forest fire broke out in Brandenburg last week and spread across the state border to Saxony.
atb/dpa