GLarge parts of the fire in Berlin’s Grunewald have now been extinguished – according to the fire brigade, the local blasting site is still a big problem. During the night, the fire brigade fought the wildfires in the vicinity of the square. “These fires have almost been extinguished since this morning,” fire department spokesman Thomas Kirstein said on Friday. There are only a few embers and small fires on the ground. According to this, it had burned in a total area of about 42 hectares.
The focus of the work on Friday is now the blasting site, around which a restricted circle with a radius of 1000 meters was drawn because of the risk of explosion. “We have to expect that detonations and debris will continue to fly,” the fire department said.
The goal is to get a more accurate picture of the situation from the blast site in the morning, Kirstein said after the briefing of the fire brigade, police and army in the morning. The police demolition expert should drive up to the detonation site in a Bundeswehr armored vehicle and get a first impression of the external border and make an assessment. This plan was canceled on Thursday evening.
In addition, the fire brigade requested a fire fighting vehicle from a private company, which is used in areas where there is a risk of explosion, Kirstein said. In addition, three robots from Lower Saxony, which can also extinguish, are to drive into the restricted area in the direction of the explosives site. Other armored recovery vehicles of the Bundeswehr are also deployed.
Kirstein emphasized that this fire was a “very special situation and challenge” for the fire department. 150 firefighters are also on duty. The freshening of the wind on Friday morning is unfavorable because there is a risk that the fire will flare up again.
Motorway and train traffic still affected
Because of the fire, the Avus Autobahn in south-west Berlin is initially closed. Train traffic was also further affected by the traffic restrictions, said a spokesman for the Berlin fire brigade on Friday morning. In a first briefing at 7 a.m., the further procedure is to be discussed.
The fire broke out early Thursday morning. Explosions could be heard before sunrise, and flames were blazing on and around the blast site in Grunewald. The fire spread significantly over the course of the day in the bone-dry forest area. The use of a camera-equipped and remote-controlled special robot from the Bundeswehr, with which the situation on the blast site was to be investigated, had to be canceled in the evening.
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