Fire in the field: straw press in northwest Mecklenburg completely destroyed!

Fire in the field: straw press in northwest Mecklenburg completely destroyed!

On Saturday, July 18, 2025, there was a dramatic fire in a field near Falkenhagen in the Northwest Mecklenburg district that caused a straw press to burst into flames. How Northern Courier reported that the straw press caught fire for reasons that are still unknown. The good news: The tractor driver was able to separate from the press in time and was uninjured.

The fire department, consisting of the Rehna volunteer fire department and the Schönberg fire department, was quickly deployed. With around 20 firefighters and the police on site, the fire, which completely destroyed the agricultural equipment, was quickly contained. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported as the field had already been harvested and a wildfire was therefore ruled out.

High damage and additional fire incidents

A similar incident occurred in Twistringen, Diepholz district. A tractor burned down there along with a square baler, with the damage estimated at around 420,000 euros NDR reported. The fire broke out during harvest when the farmer drove the burning trailer into a field that had already been harvested to prevent the fire from spreading. The tractor's tires burst, igniting burning rubber and affecting an adjacent stubble field. Here, too, around 65 firefighters were deployed and were able to contain the fire thanks to quick intervention.

Unfortunately, there are no comprehensive statistics on agricultural fires in Germany. The “Stable Fires” initiative complains about the lack of reporting requirements in several federal states, including Lower Saxony. This gap means that there are no reliable figures on fire events, their causes or the associated damage. How Agricultural today notes, the most common causes of fires on farms are electricity, arson and human error. A study by Jürgen Kunkelmann, for example, only covers cases up to 2012, which means that more recent developments are not taken into account.

The incidents in Falkenhagen and Twistringen impressively show how quickly unforeseen events can arise in agriculture. It remains to be hoped that such fires can be reduced in the future through more prevention and information.