Red alarm level: Brandenburg fights against mighty forest fire danger!

Red alarm level: Brandenburg fights against mighty forest fire danger!

Brandenburg is faced with a high risk of forest fire in the current season. The dangers are reinforced by persistent drought and low rainfall. The Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture and Nutritional Economics, Environment and Consumer Protection (MleuV) publishes daily assessments of the risk of forest fire from March 1 to September 30th. maz-online.de reports that ...

Brandenburg is the lowest regional region in Germany, with around 300,000 hectares of ammunition polluted forest area. These areas make up around a third of the state's forest areas. Brandenburg is the most strongest affected by old ammunition in Germany. forest.fnr.de emphasizes that ...

Current forest fire events

In 2023 there was a significant forest fire on a military fallow at Jüterbog, whereby the extinguishing rates were severely difficult due to the ammunition -contaminated areas. Such incidents are not isolated cases, because since 2002 the ten largest forest fires in Brandenburg have occurred exclusively on ammunition -contaminated areas, with a total of 3,301 hectares affected.

The forest fire season lasts until autumn. In June 2022, for example, devastating fires in Treuenbrietzen and Beelitz, which could only be brought under control with the help of a thunderstorm and heavy rain. Also in July 2022 there was another large forest fire in the Elbe-Elster district. Another fire in the Grunewald Berliner in August 2022 led to considerable traffic restrictions.

challenges from ammunition -contaminated areas

The ammunition -contaminated areas require special precautions for fire fighting. Emergency services must comply with a minimum distance of 500 meters to these areas, since old ammunition can explode through heat or mechanical stress. In this context, the Brandenburg (KMBD) ordnance disposal service has made over 14,500 tons of ordnance harmless since 1991. The country provides up to 5 million euros annually for the work of the KMBD to reduce the risk of fires.

Particularly endangered counties such as Teltow-Fläming, Oberspreewald-Lausitz and Prignitz have an increased risk of self-inflammation, especially through the weathering of old ammunition. In order to counteract this challenge, the Erwin project recommends preventive measures such as the early ordnance clearance and the establishment of restricted areas as well as buffer strips for endangered areas. Class = "Source_2"> according to Wald.fnr.de ...

Overall, the developments and challenges in fire protection in Brandenburg show that targeted measures and education are important in order to effectively minimize the risk of forest fire in the future. You can find more information here ...