More than 300 emergency services are currently fighting the flames in the Harz Mountains in Saxony-Anhalt, and a fire is spreading rapidly on the Brocken. The news ticker.
- Disaster declared: Forest fire in the Harz district not under control.
- Evacuation successful: Tourists brought to safety with buses and Brockenbahn.
- This live ticker for the forest fire in the Harz National Park is constantly updated.
Update from September 4th, 2:04 p.m .: The fire in the Harz National Park broke out on Saturday around 2:30 p.m. on the so-called Goetheweg near the Goethebahnhof vantage point, a police spokesman said. The so-called Goetheweg to the Brocken is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park. Some of the hikers, day-trippers and hotel guests there were taken to safety by buses from the summit because of the heavy smoke, but some were also transported down to the valley with the so-called Brockenbahn.
The plateau of the mountain, popular with tourists, had already been completely evacuated by Saturday evening. Among other things, there is a hotel and the Brocken station of the Harz narrow-gauge railways on the summit. A spokeswoman for the city of Wernigerode announced on Saturday that the evacuation of tourists from the summit was going smoothly. The Brockenbahn has stopped passenger operations. “The tank wagons are now bringing extinguishing water to the fire brigade forces,” the spokeswoman continued. A forest fire broke out near Schierke at the foot of the Brocken on August 11th
Disaster declared: Forest fire in the Harz district not under control
First report: Wernigerode – Numerous forest fires had caused a stir during the summer, and emergency services had fought the flames in many places in Germany. Only a few weeks ago the Grunewald had burned in Berlin. Now even a disaster has been declared due to a rapidly spreading fire. The fire that broke out in the Harz district is currently not under control.
Fire in the Harz Mountains triggers disaster: 300 emergency services – support requested from abroad
District Administrator Thomas Balcerowski (CDU) declared a disaster on Sunday morning because of the fire that was spreading rapidly below the Brocken summit in the Harz Mountains. Wernigerode’s city spokeswoman Ariane Hofmann announced that the district of Harz assumes that extinguishing work will take several days. The fire that broke out on Saturday was initially not under control on Sunday and raged over an area of around 62 hectares. Above all, dead spruce stands burned.
Accordingly, there are currently five firefighting helicopters and more than 300 emergency services on site, and around 50 police forces are securing the area around the Brocken. This area is currently closed to visitors. Support should also come from abroad, two firefighting planes from other European countries should arrive on Sunday. A no-fly zone for civil air traffic has been set up within a radius of 40 kilometers on the Brocken. The town of Schierke, which belongs to Wernigerode, is not at risk, it said.
Brocken in the Harz Mountains: Fire causes large-scale operation – flames not yet under control
The Harz narrow-gauge railways do not go up the 1141-meter-high mountain on Sunday. As the railway company announced on its website, there is limited train service between Wernigerode and Drei Annen Hohne. The fire broke out on Saturday around 2:30 p.m. on the so-called Goetheweg near the Goethebahnhof vantage point. The Goetheweg to the Brocken is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park.
It was only in the summer that a forest fire in Saxon Switzerland pushed hundreds of emergency services to their limits.
