In the fire areas in Saxony and Brandenburg, the emergency services have made significant progress. The extinguishing work was favored on Wednesday by the fact that the previously strong wind abated. But the emergency services are troubled by onlookers and rumors.
The district office of Saxon Switzerland - Eastern Ore Mountains explained the situation in Saxon Switzerland that although the situation remained tense, it was not out of control. Individual sources of fire have been contained and stabilized, but others have spread and must be fought intensively. Larger deployment sites are still in the area of the bear trap walls and the Frienstein.
The district office emphasized that there is currently no spread to neighboring houses. In the Bad Schandau area in particular, rumors are being spread about endangered houses and the associated evacuations - these are false reports that should not be passed on. The behavior of the citizens had previously led to the cessation of the Kirnitzschtalbahn in Bad Schandau. The authorities wanted to prevent the entry of onlookers.
As in Saxony, the situation also eased in Brandenburg. The deputy district fire chief in the Elbe Elster district, Mario Harnisch, said on the Berlin-Brandenburg radio that there was good news from the various sections of the operation on Wednesday. A hotspot of the fires was brought under control by a massive helicopter operation.
The fire brigade forces ordered another six helicopters for Thursday in order to proceed with another massive air operation. Harnisch said it was not yet possible to speak of relaxation. The further development of the situation must be awaited. The fire brigade should keep the fire brigade busy in the region for the rest of the summer, said Harnisch. "I think it will take weeks."
The federal police said that there were five other firefighting operations with their helicopters in July before the current operation. With 453 drops, a total of 815,400 liters of water were distributed in Brandenburg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia for extinguishing.
On Wednesday night, the fire in a wind farm in the Kölsa-Rehfeld area revived in the wind. In parallel to the use of helicopters, the Bundeswehr cut aisles with an engineer tank to prevent the fire from spreading further.
Since successes had been achieved here during the night, the fire area had not increased, the district said. Of the total of 800 hectares affected, 500 hectares are still "active". The extinguishing work was concentrated on this.
The district will keep the lake on the Kiebitz closed for bathing until further notice. A partial closure of the federal highway 183 between Bad Liebenwerda and Torgau will remain in place. The emergency services were optimistic due to the weather forecasts - the wind, which had recently been at gale force, died down and the temperatures dropped.
