A World War II bomb disposal explosion set fire to one of Berlin’s largest urban forests.
A massive fire has broken out in one of Berlin’s largest urban forests. This is due to multiple explosions at a bomb disposal site in the forest on the hottest day ever.
More than 100 firefighters were fighting fires that spread over 1.5 hectares (about 3.7 acres) of forest in the German capital Grunewald on Thursday, the Berlin fire department and German news agency reported.
The fire spread rapidly, and massive explosions were heard from a location in the woods where old World War II ammunition, fireworks, and explosives were stored and controlled explosions were made.
“The situation is dangerous,” Thomas Kirstein, from the Berlin fire department, told reporters.
“The fire is out of control. The forest is burning out of control.”
Kirstein said it was not clear what caused the first explosion at an ammunition depot on Thursday.
He called on the residents to stay away from the forest.
Authorities in Berlin frequently carry out bomb disposal operations because explosives are still being found from World War II.
Due to the danger from flying debris and the threat of further explosions, the fire department still refused to systematically extinguish the bushfires because emergency services had to keep a distance of 1 kilometer (more than half a mile) from the blaze. Said it didn’t start. .
Firefighters deployed to the area were watering the forest outside the exclusion zone to prevent the fire from spreading further.
Plans are also underway to fly a drone over the ammunition depot and record aerial imagery to better assess the situation.
“The plan is to get a new situational assessment from the blast site, first from the air,” Kirstein said, adding that the fire brigade hoped to access the area with armored vehicles later in the day. added.
Berlin officials called for additional help to put out the flames, including German special forces.
Water cannons and special evacuation tanks were also scheduled to be on the scene.
Commuter train services to West Berlin were partially disrupted and one of the city’s most important highways, the Abbas, was closed due to a fire.
The homes were not directly threatened by the blazes, but the fire department said dry conditions in the woods and unusually hot temperatures with an expected high of 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday caused the blazes to continue. warned that it could spread further Berlin.
