High summer risk of forest fire: Brandenburg's ecological powder barrel!

High summer risk of forest fire: Brandenburg's ecological powder barrel!

Jüterbog, Deutschland - in Brandenburg, the risk of forest fire is currently particularly high, especially in the hot season, where dangerous conditions come together. Persistent drought and low rainfall promote this dangerous location. The Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture and Nutritional Economics, Environment and Consumer Protection (Mleuv) publishes current assessments of the risk of forest fire between March 1 and September 30. It currently smokes at different locations in the region, where the forest fire season has been starting since March 1 and lasts until autumn. While many smaller forest fires appeared in 2024, larger, devastating inserts have so far failed to materialize. But the major fire, which raged at a military wasteland at Jüterbog in June 2023 and could only be deleted after two weeks, remains unforgettable.

Brandenburg is also the most affected state affected by old ammunition in Germany. Around 300,000 hectares of forest area, which is ammunition, represent a significant challenge in fire fighting - over a third of the entire forest area in the state is affected. These areas are not only confronted with the risk of self -infections that increase due to the weathering of old ammunition, but the fire brigade must also comply with a minimum distance of 500 meters to ammunition -contaminated areas. The National Project Erwin aims to analyze the problem around these dangers and to develop appropriate recommendations for action.

The explosive challenge

The combination of forest fires and ammunition -contaminated areas is particularly complicable in Brandenburg. Self -inflammation of old ammunition already led to fires on 851 hectares of forest in 2019, which made 63 % of the total forest fire area of ​​that year. The vegetation structure on former military areas favors the rapid spread of fire and presents the emergency services before immense challenges. In Treuenbrietzen incidents in Treuenbrietzen show that the problem is urgent. Firefighters were only able to keep fire protection strips moist in Jüterbog, since the risk of spreading the flames to non -accessible fire foci. These circumstances require quick action and preventive measures, such as the early ordnance clearance in accessible areas.

• Brandenburg has classified about 575,000 hectares (20 %) of its area as suspicious of orders.
• of the 300,000 hectares of forest area is much accessible for the fire brigade.
• to effectively design fire fighting, regular maintenance of paths and extinguishing water removal points are essential.
• The country issues up to 5 million euros annually for the work of the ordnance disposal service (KMBD).

A remarkable fact: All ten largest forest fires since 2002 occurred exclusively on ammunition -contaminated areas. In 2022, for example, 490 tons of ordnance were found and destroyed - that ranges from more than 3,000 close -up agents to thousands of grenades and mines. The security situation is also a financial challenge for the country, which has placed great value on the stemmunition and evacuation of the endangered areas since 2002.

Before a fire can be deleted in a affected region, considerable preparatory work often has to be done. The challenge of eliminating the old, potentially explosively explosive materials is complex and expensive - costs of at least one euro per square meter are estimated. These aspects increase the pressure on the resources of those responsible and the ordnance disposal program includes an estimated costs of around 700 million euros for over 1800 areas, of which several hundred hectares of forest.

Brandenburg is required to make clever political and practical decisions in order to ensure the safety of the population and the health of their forests. The focus is on preventive projects such as Erwin as well as the tireless use of the fire brigade and the ordnance disposal services. Time is forces and the emergency services are clear: the combination of extreme weather and contaminated sites is an explosive mixture.

For further information on the current developments and measures in Brandenburg, please click on MAZ, Fnr, and Tagesschau.