Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - The fire brigades in Hesse have already responded to around 180 forest fires this year. "Even if the forest fire season is not over yet, the numbers already represent a new negative record for Hesse," said the Ministry of the Interior in Wiesbaden on Tuesday. Around 125 hectares of forest have already burned down. The courageous intervention of the firefighters ensured that the numerous forest fires in Hesse could have been contained quickly and successfully, said Interior Secretary Stefan Sauer (CDU).

In the past decade, there were a total of 124 forest fires on a total of 12 hectares in the dry summer months of 2015 and 139 forest fires over the entire season in 2018 with around 16 hectares burned. All operations in which the fire brigade was alerted due to a "fire in a forest, field or meadow with the risk of further expansion" are statistically recorded as "forest fire".

The ministry explained that the past weekend was the most active so far with the significant forest fires in central and southern Hesse. Around 30 hectares of forest were on fire in the Haiger/Dillenburg area and near Münster near Dieburg.