Large forest fire in Brandenburg: Kleinbahren must be evacuated!

Large forest fire in Brandenburg: Kleinbahren must be evacuated!

When the flames dance and the smoke rises, it says in Brandenburg: the highest willingness to alert! So today, on July 1, 2025, where a large forest fire in the Elbe-Elster district keeps the emergency services in suspense. The fire broke out in the municipality of Babben and has already resulted in the evacuation of the town of Kleinbahren. The regional control center Lausitz informed the population and called out a major damage at 2 p.m. The residents were asked to leave the area far and to move around Sonnewalde decentrally and to pay attention to the police and fire brigade.

The Situation is worrying: the forest fire hazard level has reached the highest level 5 in the region. This classification shows that the risk of a forest fire is extremely high due to the current weather and vegetation. The temperatures rose in the past week, and the Christmas markets in the region are very caution, since any fire in the forest of Brandenburg is prohibited due to this acute danger. Kitas and schools are not affected by the evacuation, but the risk remains high.

The fire brigade in continuous use

Around 180 firefighters from several units are used to contain the flames. Heated conditions, supported by a south-east wind direction, favor the rapid spread of the fire. Police helicopters are also deployed above the area of ​​application to view the situation from the air. In addition to Kleinbahren, several forest fires are registered in the region, but the fire in other parts of Brandenburg, such as Sorno, Fichtenberg or Proschim, are now under control.

But the challenge remains great: the affected area is classified as "suspect of ordnance". This makes access to the fire brigades and forester significantly more difficult. Sensors found a smoke development shortly after 12 noon, which had to move the disaster rod in Herzberg to alert. Citizens can use the hotline at (03535) 46 4004 to find out about the current situation.

forest fire hazard levels at an overview

In order to inform the population about the acute danger, the cumbersome forest fire threat scaling was introduced. This ranges from level 1, which means very low dangers, up to level 5, the highest danger level that we are currently experiencing. The exact division looks like this:

The forest fire theater levels apply annually from March 1st to September 30th and are updated daily. For levels 4 or 5, forests can be blocked to avoid further risk. In these difficult times, it is important to be vigilant and to ensure the security of everyone by taking the warnings of the authorities seriously. In Elbe-Elster and Spree-Neisse, the risk of forest fires has been extremely high since last Thursday, and that should not be taken lightly.

Stay safe and note all the fire brigade and police notes! Protect yourself not only yourself, but also the nature that is so important to us. Together we can defy the challenges that are given by the flames.