No all-clear: forest fires in Saxony continue to rage

A week after the forest fire broke out in Saxon Switzerland, the extinguishing work continues.

No all-clear: forest fires in Saxony continue to rage

A week after the forest fire broke out in Saxon Switzerland, the extinguishing work continues. On Monday, the embers should be contained in the ground, as the press spokesman for the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district office, Thomas Kunz, announced on Monday. The floor is turned over and a carpet of foam is spread out of the air.

In this way, barriers are to be formed so that the fire does not spread in the humus layer. The planned locations are on the Großer Winterberg and in the Zschand area. On Sunday evening, a suspected fire was also confirmed by a drone flight. Helicopters will be deployed there in the morning.

There are around 200 firefighters with 50 vehicles on site. According to Kunz, 150 more will be added in the morning, and a total of around 550 people will be on duty during the day. The Bundeswehr supports the extinguishing work. In addition, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) will visit the forest fire area on Monday.

The fire broke out a week ago in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park last Monday. An area of ​​around 150 hectares is now affected - an area as large as the island of Helgoland.

On the Czech side, the extent of the fire is even greater: there the flames are raging over an area of ​​a good 1000 hectares, 750 firefighters from all over the Czech Republic are on site. "Because of the challenging terrain, the work is progressing relatively slowly," said a spokeswoman for the emergency services on Sunday on CT public television. So far, eight emergency services have been injured on the Czech side, several of them seriously. Four firefighters have been injured on the Saxon side so far, two of them had to be hospitalized.

In the south of Brandenburg, on the other hand, the authorities assess the situation as stable. The Elbe-Elster district announced on Sunday evening that she had relaxed further. "The remaining embers are fought separately." A firefighting helicopter of the Bundeswehr has not been in use since Saturday. According to the information, the area on the border with Saxony should continue to be "closely" controlled by the emergency services. Recently, there was concern that embers could reignite the fire.