A forest fire expert does not rule out rockfalls after the fires in the Saxon Switzerland National Park. "I fear that the fires in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains will lead to dramatic soil erosion and rockfalls. There's hardly any humus there, the trees are on rock," said Michael Müller, professor of silviculture and forest protection at the Technical University of Dresden, the newspapers of the Bayern media group on Thursday.
The expert advocated not always extinguishing forest fires in all areas. In a German national park, every fire slows down natural development by decades. The situation in the pine forests in Brandenburg, for example, is different. “There are areas with a high ammunition load there. Here you have to decide whether you should put out fires or give up and let it go.”
Müller also sees the use and purchase of fire-fighting aircraft as a supporting tool at best. "You can't put out a forest fire with fire-fighting aircraft. We mainly throw the water on the treetops and are talking about one to two liters of water per square meter.”
With fire-fighting aircraft, however, one can rob a strong fire of energy for a short time. “The heat and noise level of the fire then abruptly decrease. Then the fire brigades can attack the crucial ground fire.”
There have been forest fires in southern Brandenburg and in the Saxon Switzerland National Park for days. While the fires in Brandenburg are largely under control, the fires in the Saxon National Park have recently spread further.
Further north of the previous fire area between Großer Winterberg and Großer Zschandbach, the fire crossed the border from Bohemia to Saxon Switzerland, said the press spokesman for the district office of the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains, Thomas Kunze, on Thursday morning. However, it cannot yet be said whether there will be another major source of fire in addition to the previous five fire sites.
275 emergency services are currently trying to contain the fire. This number of emergency services will be increased further during the course of the day. There are now eight firefighting helicopters in use. According to the information, around 250 hectares of forest are currently on fire.
The fire broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic over the weekend and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park on Monday.
In Bad Schandau in Saxon Switzerland, a disaster alarm has been in effect since Tuesday. Tourists should avoid the area. In the district of Saxon Switzerland-Osterzgebirge, the forests may no longer be entered until further notice. According to the authorities on Wednesday evening, there is currently no risk of the fire spreading to neighboring towns.
