Progress on fire in Grunewald: Avus open again

Created: 2022-08-10Updated: 2022-08-10, 8:20 p.m

Smoke rises in the burned forest in the restricted area around the fire site at the Berlin police blast site in Grunewald.

© Fabian Sommer/dpa

For days, the fire at a blast site in Berlin's Grunewald has tied up many emergency services.

Finally, fire-fighting helicopters bring the desired progress.

But the effort goes on.

Berlin – Almost a week after a fire broke out at a blast site in Berlin's Grunewald forest, according to the fire brigade, significant progress has been made in the extinguishing work.

The blocking of the Autobahn 115 (Avus) was therefore lifted on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.

About an hour and a half later, however, the traffic was still not rolling.

The barriers still have to be removed, said a spokesman for the Berlin fire department.

This could last until around 9 p.m.

The important highway is about 500 meters from the blast site - and was therefore part of the restricted area, which was last 550 meters.

Before the freeway was released, it had to be ensured that scattered ammunition and old World War II bombs on the site no longer posed any danger.

The temperatures on the site, which were still around 140 degrees on Monday morning, were decisive for this.

The fire brigade spokesman said that it had now been possible to bring the temperatures below 60 degrees across the entire blasting site.

A water supply was laid around the square to further cool the square.

"The humidification maintains the temperature," said the spokesman.

A danger from explosions or detonations can currently be ruled out, the spokesman said.

Therefore, it is possible to reduce the blocking circle.

However, the forest area and paths are still closed for several hundred meters around the blasting site.

Firefighters would now continue to drive off the area in order to be able to quickly extinguish small embers.

Special police forces were on the site for the first time on Wednesday.

The fire brigade spokesman said that employees from the explosive ordnance clearance service and the fireworks from the police had inspected the place to assess the damage.

According to him, the use of two fire-fighting helicopters from the Bundeswehr was decisive for the progress made in fighting the fire.

These were deployed on Wednesday after they flew over Grunewald for the first time on Tuesday.

They take their water from the nearby Havel.

A third helicopter used thermal imaging cameras to examine the successes achieved on the ground.

The helicopters were recently used in the forest fires in Saxony.

Previously, the fire brigade was only able to cool the hot spots on the ground and the remaining explosive devices with a fire fighting vehicle and firefighting robots.

Because of the heat on the site, there was a risk of ammunition and other ordnance exploding.

On Tuesday, the fire brigade found that the forest south of the blast site was also relatively heavily contaminated with ammunition that had been thrown around by the explosions.

On the blasting site, where the police stored 30 tons of old grenades, World War II bombs, ammunition and confiscated fireworks, there was a violent fire last Thursday night.

The cause is not yet known.

Numerous explosions could be heard.

In the days that followed, isolated explosive devices went off.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz meanwhile found out about fighting such fires in the neighboring state of Brandenburg, where several large forest fires have recently been raging.

At the same time, he thanked firefighters for their commitment.

"Without the commitment, without the commitment of many women and men, we will not be able to deal with such challenges," said the SPD politician on Wednesday after visiting the fire brigade technical center in Beelitz-Heilstätten - about 40 kilometers away from the blast site in Grunewald .

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Fire in the Grunewald forest in Berlin: after almost a week, operations control releases the Avus motorway

Fire brigade: Opening of the Avus is still possible on Wednesday

"Thank you, thank you for your commitment, for the courage, the willingness to invest your own time to be able to help in such an emergency and to do it well trained," he added to the emergency services.

“The forest fires were a great danger.

It is impressive to see how many women and men fought the fires and how quickly they were deployed.” dpa