Trassenheide (dpa / mv) - Unknown people have caused another forest fire in a coastal forest strip on the island of Usedom. As a police spokesman said on Friday, about 250 square meters of pine forest on the Baltic Sea near Trassenheide (West Pomerania-Greifswald) burned on Thursday. Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames before more forest or buildings caught fire. The police are investigating on suspicion of arson. It is still unclear whether the fire was caused by negligence or was set intentionally, it said.
There have been several fires in the north of the Baltic Sea island of Usedom since 2021, the causes of which have not yet been found. Most recently, in August, the coastal forest in Zempin had burned. Previously, thatched cottages, such as those in Karlshagen and Trassenheide, were also destroyed by fire.
The risk of forest fires in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is not very high after the last rainfall. Although it has rained less on Usedom than in the south of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Torgelow forestry office - to which the island belongs - has a forest fire warning level of one out of five.
