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Use still dangerous: ground temperatures up to 700 degrees

2022-08-05T13:12:31.946Z


Use still dangerous: ground temperatures up to 700 degrees Created: 08/05/2022Updated: 08/05/2022 15:02 Plumes of smoke can be seen from Teufelsberg above Grunewald. © Paul Zinken/dpa After the fire in Grunewald has largely been extinguished, the focus is on the situation at the blasting site. Ground temperatures of up to 700 degrees make the operation even more dangerous - lifting the traffic


Use still dangerous: ground temperatures up to 700 degrees

Created: 08/05/2022Updated: 08/05/2022 15:02

Plumes of smoke can be seen from Teufelsberg above Grunewald.

© Paul Zinken/dpa

After the fire in Grunewald has largely been extinguished, the focus is on the situation at the blasting site.

Ground temperatures of up to 700 degrees make the operation even more dangerous - lifting the traffic closures in the afternoon was out of the question.

Berlin - The flames in Berlin's Grunewald have largely been extinguished - but the danger, especially for the emergency services, has not been banned.

A lifting of the road and rail closures was still not in sight on Friday afternoon.

After a police demolition expert was able to explore the area in a recovery vehicle in the morning, the fire brigade, police and army had a better overview of the situation at the detonation site.

From there, the fire had spread to the forest the day before.

According to the police, the ground there was still up to 700 degrees hot in some places.

In order to reduce the risk of further explosions from remains of ammunition, these areas would have to be cooled with water, said police spokesman Thilo Cablitz.

Two stored bombs from the world war, each weighing 250 kilograms, were torn from their holders.

They did not explode, but got very hot and had to be cooled.

The same applies to other areas on the large site.

The fire brigade and a special company with a fire fighting vehicle are in action for this.

There are no more fires there.

Some storage sites for dangerous explosives have always been constantly cooled with water, nothing happened there.

The fire brigade had already imposed a safety radius of 1000 meters around the site on Friday.

Only when the cooling is successful and the danger decreases can the restricted area be reduced to a radius of 600 meters and the motorway and railway lines then be released again, said Cablitz.

He did not give an estimate of how long that could take.

Fire chief Karsten Homrighausen emphasized: "It is due to safety." In the event of further explosions from ammunition residues, material could be thrown far.

At the moment there are no more detonations.

The explosives experts had identified three danger areas, where the fire brigade would specifically cool.

Brigadier General Jürgen Karl Uchtmann emphasized that it was still not necessary to use helicopters to extinguish the fire.

Instead, a five-kilometre-long aisle was cut through the forest with an armored recovery vehicle so that the fire engines could get to the fire.

"After the end of the crisis, they can be made available to the people of Berlin as beautiful, wide hiking and biking trails."

According to initial findings, the fire broke out on the blast site on Thursday night.

Tons of old grenades, ammunition and confiscated fireworks were stored in buildings on the site.

Explosions could be heard, the fire spread throughout the day in the dry forest area.

On the night of Friday, the fire brigade continued to fight the wildfires in the vicinity of the blast site, spokesman Thomas Kirstein said on Friday morning after the first briefing.

"These fires have almost been extinguished since this morning." There have been no injured people so far.

It had burned, therefore, a total of almost 50 hectares.

150 firefighters and 500 police officers are also on duty to cordon off the area.

The freshening of the wind on Friday morning was unfavorable because there was a risk that the fire would flare up again.

A few rain showers in the morning initially brought little relief.

The fire brigade emphasized that this operation was the most challenging and dangerous in post-war history for the emergency services.

Nevertheless, the protection of the capital is still guaranteed.

"It has worked very well so far." There were also two other larger fire extinguishing operations on Thursday and Friday morning.

The cause of the fire in Grunewald is currently unclear.

"That was a big topic here today: How can this happen?" Said fire brigade spokesman Kirstein on Thursday evening on RBB.

Several buildings on the site were already "in full fire" when the fire brigade arrived.

The State Criminal Police Office must determine whether it was possibly arson.

We also work together with the fire brigade and the demolition experts of the police.

According to the police, around 30 tons of "munitions and ammunition" from the Second World War and several hundred kilograms of fireworks, which were confiscated on New Year's Eve, were stored on the large site of the detonation site.

These stocks are blown up at regular intervals, most recently in March and April.

To be on the safe side, the stocks stored are “permanently rained on”.

There is also a fire protection concept, fire protection corridors and a fire alarm system.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-05

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