The extinguishing work in Berlin's Grunewald is difficult because of the ammunition stored there. When the fire brigade arrives early in the morning, several buildings are already ablaze. After emergency services managed to work within the security circle during the day, detonations can be heard again in the evening.
The major fire in Berlin's Grunewald has spread within the restricted area created by the fire brigade due to the rising wind in a southwesterly direction. As a spokesman announced on Thursday evening, the fire brigade was able to prevent the fire from reaching the Avus motorway. On Thursday night, explosions at a police detonation site in the forest caused the fire.
Due to the massive risk of explosion, the fire brigade set up a restricted area with a radius of 1000 meters around the blast site. According to the spokesman, however, some emergency services, in consultation with the police demolitions officer, were able to advance up to 500 meters to the blast site to fight the flames.
Since 6 p.m., however, there have been several clearly audible detonations, as the fire department spokesman said. "What we lack is an assessment of the situation from the blast site," he added. For these reasons, the blocking circle could not be reduced as hoped. Traffic on the Avus, like the adjacent rail traffic, is expected to remain interrupted until at least 6 a.m. on Friday morning, and the motorway may only be opened again later in the day.
According to an assessment by the fire brigade on Thursday afternoon based on aerial photographs, the fire had spread from one and a half hectares in the morning to around 50 hectares. However, not everything in this area is on fire, some of it is just smoke, the police spokesman said. According to the fire department, up to 50 tons of ordnance were stored on the blast site. According to their own statements, the police blow up the finds deposited there several times a year, but have recently been unable to do so due to the heat.
According to the Berlin fire brigade, the cause of the fire is still unclear. "That was a big topic here today: How can this happen?" Said the spokesman for the Berlin fire brigade, Thomas Kirstein, on Thursday evening in an rbb special on the major fire in southwest Berlin. Kirstein pointed out that when the fire brigade arrived early in the morning, several buildings at the Grunewald blast site were already "in full fire".
The police will take care of determining the cause. "We had several conversations with the demolition experts today," said the fire brigade spokesman. "They are also investigating together with the LKA in all directions, and of course they are also interested in how this could have happened."
