Federal police helicopters have been used to cool the still hot blast site in Berlin's Grunewald forest with water from the air and to extinguish glowing spots.
The two helicopters requested by the fire brigade were on the road "in principle every five minutes" from around 5 p.m. in the evening to fetch water from the nearby Havel and drop it over the blasting site, a spokesman for the fire brigade told the German Press Agency. A third helicopter accompanied the operation, which lasted until around 8:00 p.m.
The emergency services promised a lot from the action: "We hope for a great effect," said the fire department spokesman. Contrary to an initial assessment, it was found that the forest area south of the blast site was also heavily contaminated by ammunition that had been thrown around by the explosions. "But fighting fires from the air is now possible."
Hundreds of liters of water transport at once
The federal police helicopters can transport hundreds of liters of water at once with a large container hanging below them. The container is opened in the air over the intended location and the water spreads over a fire or the target area. The fire brigade spokesman explained that the smoke development and the flames, some of which were still open, made it easy to identify the area where the fire had to be extinguished. Fire brigade forces also flew along to advise the pilots.
The helicopters were recently used in the forest fires in Saxony. According to the fire department spokesman, they came to Berlin from Saxony on Tuesday. According to the current planning status, they should not be used in Grunewald on Wednesday because they are needed in Saxony, said the spokesman.
Numerous explosions
At the blasting site, where the police stored 30 tons of old grenades, ammunition and confiscated fireworks, there was a violent fire during the night. The cause is not yet known. Numerous explosions could be heard. Because of the danger from scattered ammunition and old World War II bombs, the fire brigade has so far only been able to cool the hot spots on the ground and the remaining explosive devices with a fire fighting vehicle and firefighting robots. Smaller fires were seen again on Tuesday night and smaller explosions were heard.
On the sixth day of the fire at the blast site, the situation was still dangerous. The Avus motorway, which is about 500 meters from the blast site, initially remained closed and, according to the fire brigade, will remain closed on Wednesday night. The situation should then be reassessed on Wednesday morning.
Still temperatures of 140 degrees
Firefighters extinguished the fires from the edge of the 550-meter exclusion zone during the day. The terrain was already significantly cooler than on Monday morning, when temperatures of 140 degrees were still measured. But some spots are still very warm, it said. If the temperatures stayed below 60 degrees permanently, it would be possible to reduce the blocking circuit, the spokesman said. Then a release of the highway is possible.
Around 250 emergency services were again on site on Tuesday: firefighters, police officers with water cannons, members of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), the Bundeswehr, the Red Cross and the forest administration.
