The fire in the forest fire area in southern Brandenburg is under control. The situation is stable, it said on Wednesday morning. Evacuations are no longer an issue.
- Forest fire near Falkenberg (Brandenburg) under control : district fire chief is optimistic about the situation.
- Forest fire in Brandenburg : flames rage around Falkenberg.
- Evacuation due to major fire : 700 people have to leave their homes.
- This news ticker is updated regularly.
Update from July 27, 11:29 a.m .: The forest fire near Falkenberg in the Elbe Elster district is under control! The reports the rbb. According to information from district fire chief Steffen Ludewig on Wednesday morning, “the fire could no longer run away”. Cooling down due to lower temperatures and a decrease in the wind would have helped. Evacuations from local locations are no longer an issue.
Forest fire in Brandenburg under control: district fire chief is optimistic about the situation
Areas contaminated with ammunition continue to cause concern. The ordnance disposal service is on site, said Ludewig. “We will find out where we can really go in there and where there is danger.”
A Bundeswehr tank, which is supposed to cut aisles for the fire brigades, is currently not ready for use, and a replacement tank has been requested, which is to lay aisles around a threatened commercial area until late at night. According to the district fire chief, the extinguishing work will take at least a week. “All comrades are at the breaking point,” said Ludewig, it was not the first mission this year.
In a statement from the district of Elbe Elster on Wednesday (July 27), it said: “Even after two days of intensive extinguishing work, the major fire in Kölsa-Rehfeld in the town of Falkenberg is still not under control.” The extinguishing work would currently focus on the southern section (Lonnewitz) focus. During the night, the flames in the wind farm flared up again. At 9 a.m., Bundeswehr helicopters should also continue to extinguish the fire from the air. Around 400 emergency services are fighting the flames. From Wednesday afternoon, attempts should be made to extinguish the fire from the ground.
The situation in the Saxon Switzerland National Park, on the other hand, remains tense. The most important information can be found here in the news ticker.
Forest fire in Brandenburg: Helicopters in action until midnight
Update from July 26, 9:16 p.m .: In the forest fire in Brandenburg in the Elbe-Elster district, the extinguishing work continued on Tuesday evening. They concentrated on the southern area of the fire along federal highway 183 near the Falkenberg-Lönnewitz airfield. According to the deputy forest fire protection officer Philipp Haase, an area of around 850 hectares is still affected. However, a hot fire – with flames and smoke development – only raged over an area of around 500 hectares. These are primarily wooded areas that are difficult for vehicles to access.
“The emergency services try under all circumstances to prevent the flames from reaching the other side of the main road,” said Haase. Further north near Rehfeld, the situation is now under control. A total of around seven helicopters were in use during the day, two of which are scheduled to fly their missions until midnight.
Haase assumes that extinguishing all the embers could take days, if not weeks. For this night, the emergency services hoped for relaxation. Experience has shown that the wind then calms down a bit, he emphasized. “The hope remains that even one or two drops of rain could fall.”
Bundeswehr supports in the fight against the flames – two fire-fighting helicopters in action
Update from July 26, 1:57 p.m .: The Bundeswehr is now using two fire-fighting helicopters in the forest fire near Falkenberg, reports the Elbe-Elster district. More helicopters have been requested. 350 emergency services are fighting the flames on site. It could be days before the fire is under control. The forest fire has now grown to 850 hectares. “The emergency services are concerned about wind gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour that have currently been announced,” it said.
The first evacuations were lifted. The situation has calmed down a bit. In Kölsa and Rehfeld, residents were able to return to their homes. For the Kölsa settlement, the evacuation order remained in place.
The fire broke out on Monday (July 25) around 1.30 p.m. in a forested area with wind turbines near Kölsa-Rehfeld in the town of Falkenberg. The district of Elbe-Elster then called out the major damage situation for the fire. In a few hours, the fire spread from 100 to over 800 hectares. The cause of the fire is initially unclear.
Forest fire in Brandenburg: Flames are raging around Falkenberg/Elster
First report from July 26, 2022: Cottbus – The fire in Brandenburg had spread massively due to flying sparks, reports rbb24.de. The forest and fields near Falkenberg/Elster in the Elbe-Elster district are on fire. An area of 800 hectares is now affected. The extent of the forest fire will only be explored in the course of Tuesday morning. Particularly sensitive: The area is partially “munitions loaded”.
The situation was “very tense,” said a spokesman for the fire brigade on Tuesday morning of the dpa news agency. The fire is “not yet under control”. The Kölsa settlement in the city of Falkenberg (Elster) was particularly affected, the spokesman said. The fire brigade was on site on Tuesday morning with 152 emergency services.
Evacuation due to major fire: 700 people have to leave their homes
The fire broke out on Monday from “unexplained circumstances in the early afternoon and quickly developed into a major fire,” said the Elbe-Elster district. The district classified the fire as a major damage situation.
The first residents of the Kölsa settlement in Falkenberg and Rehfeld had to leave their homes on Monday. 700 people were affected. Other towns would have to prepare to be evacuated. Seven firefighters were injured during the extinguishing work. Six injured had to be taken to a hospital. In addition, a piglet farm burned down in the area. According to a statement from the district, many animals have died.
Fire in the Elbe-Elster district: rail traffic between Leipzig and Cottbus interrupted
Due to the forest fire in the Elbe-Elster district, Deutsche Bahn has interrupted rail traffic between Leipzig and Cottbus. An emergency bus service between Falkenberg/Elster and Torgau has been set up on the route, DB Regio Berlin-Brandenburg tweeted.
The forest fire in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park (Czech Republic) spread to the German side on Tuesday night (July 26). The flames are not under control. (ml with dpa material)
