According to the fire brigade, a forest fire in an area of up to 30,000 square meters near Plettenberg in the Märkisch district is under control. A spokesman for the fire brigade said in the morning on request that emergency services should start on Tuesday to cut down trees that have been burned and attacked by the bark beetle. After that, the area will be cleared.
Firefighters from across the county were on duty throughout the night. The police supported the extinguishing work with a helicopter until Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, around 100 firefighters and three fire engines were still in action.
On Monday, the burning forest area in the Sauerland area was initially estimated at just 3,000 square meters. Images from a drone then showed that the fire had spread to an area of up to 30,000 square meters, said the fire department spokesman. Trees were "burned to the top". The reason for this is that they are infested with the bark beetle.
The NRW state government has now presented a new concept for fighting forest fires. "The forest is our number one climate protector," said Agriculture Minister Silke Gorißen (CDU) on Tuesday in Wermelskirchen in the Bergisches Land. Therefore it must be protected at all costs.
Among other things, cameras for the early detection of forest fires should be used more frequently in the future. Lower Saxony has already had good experiences with this system. Another good concept is 30 meter wide forest strips with less combustible tree species. In addition, accessibility for fire engines must be secured, and there must be more extinguishing ponds again. The forests in NRW should also have a larger proportion of deciduous forest.
The current fire in Berlin's Grunewald is just as worrying as the big fire in Saxon Switzerland, said Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). NRW also has to prepare for such situations, according to Reul.
