There has been a fire in the Saxon Switzerland National Park for a week. The situation is stable but remains critical. The embers are fought by hand on the ground and with foam carpets from the air. The Federal Defense Minister will get an overview of the situation on Monday.
Bad Schandau (dpa / sn) - A week after the outbreak of the forest fire in Saxon Switzerland, the extinguishing work continues. "The situation is stable, but embers are always being discovered," said the spokesman for the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district office, Thomas Kunz, on Monday on request. The main task is now to fight the embers in the ground with barriers.
To do this, the ground is first turned over by hand with a spade and a carpet of foam is spread out of the air. "In this way, the moisture is supposed to penetrate deep into the ground and extinguish the embers. The fire literally moves on in the ground under the emergency services," explained Kunz.
The planned locations are on the Großer Winterberg and in the Zschand area. On Monday night, around 200 firefighters were initially deployed on an area of around 150 hectares. Their number is to be increased to around 550 in total over the course of the day.
Up to 15 helicopters are also deployed. In addition to the machines that drop extinguishing water on the source of the fire from the air, there are reconnaissance flights. "With their thermal imaging cameras, they deliver live images of embers to the operations center," explained Kunz.
The weather could still help. "Dark clouds have been moving over the fire area all morning. If they should finally let rain fall extensively, it would make their work easier for the emergency services," emphasized the spokesman for the district office.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht is expected in Bad Schandau on Monday. According to the State Chancellery in Dresden, the SPD politician wants to get an idea of the situation - together with the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) and Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer. The visit starts at the operations center of the fire brigade in Bad Schandau. A helicopter flight is also on the program for the minister and the head of government.
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.
In the meantime, after heavy rainfall, the fire situation in Arzberg in the district of North Saxony has eased significantly. "The fire brigade operation ended yesterday and our support forces were also released from the operation," the police said on Twitter on Monday morning. The forest fire broke out in Brandenburg last week and spread across the state border to Saxony.
