2023-06-13 11:55:07
ADue to the calm on Tuesday night, the situation around the Forest fires stabilized in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the time being. The night was quieter than feared, said the district administrator of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, Stefan Sternberg (SPD), on Tuesday morning. Due to the calm, the fire did not spread exponentially. The ground around the fires is now being watered to prevent further spread. “The ground is very, very, very dry. Even places that have been watered are immediately incredibly dry again after a short time,” said Sternberg.
Two fires are raging on site near Lübtheen and Hagenow on a former military site; a total of almost 140 hectares of forest are burning there, around 500 firefighters are on duty. This is considered to be extremely difficult, as the firefighters have to withdraw from the immediate vicinity of the fire again and again, as old ammunition explodes. Loud detonations can be heard again and again.
Residents of the village of Volzrade were evacuated
The village of Volzrade, which belongs to Lübtheen, was evacuated on Monday evening, and around 160 residents stayed with friends or in a local gym. However, the emergency services were confident that the village could be preserved. On Tuesday morning it was said that the distance between the fire and the place remained the same during the night. The previous evening it had been around 800 meters.
Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela-Schwesig came to Lübtheen on Tuesday morning and thanked the emergency services. Schwesig said the fire was more complicated, but the technical equipment was better than in 2019. At that time, there was a fire on the former military training area covering an area of almost 1,000 hectares. As a result, the state government invested in fire protection measures on site, including digging around 15 wells. In addition, heavy fire protection technology was procured – such as off-road fire engines with particularly large water tanks – which were now quickly brought in from other districts in which they were stationed. Nevertheless, the situation this time is considered to be more difficult because there is a lot of dry deadwood in the forests. The enormous heat generated by the fires also detonates ammunition deep in the ground.
The forest also burned elsewhere in Germany. A forest area of around four hectares near Rheinsberg in the Brandenburg district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin is currently on fire, and a fire in Jüteborg south of Berlin that had previously been extinguished also flared up again on Tuesday. There, around two hectares of forest are also burning on a military training area contaminated with ammunition. A fire in the Taunus between Kronberg and Königstein was largely extinguished on Tuesday morning Fire department warned, however, that the fire could flare up again at any time due to numerous embers.
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