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Berlin plays safe after fire at explosive site in forest

  • August 08, 2022

Firefighters were seeking to fully extinguish the blaze at Berlin’s city ordnance disposal area on Monday, days after fire broke out caused by an explosion at the site.

The goal was to reduce the size of the area at risk, officials said, adding that the situation was stable but not yet fully under control.

What’s the latest on the fire?

A spokesperson for the fire department said people would start working on the site once it was certain that it was safe. The presence of explosives at the compound meant the operation has been treated with a higher degree of caution than normal.

“We hope to be able to cool down further there with robots and firefighting tanks so that we can then go into the area,” the spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

Berlin Fire Brigade spokesman Mario Witt had said on Sunday that the plan was to get closer to the fenced-off blasting site area at the heart of the blaze. Although the main fire is out, many small blazes continued, he said.

According to estimates, the fire department operation will continue for days with firefighters — using high-tech surveillance equipment — looking for still-smoldering embers.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Explosions in a dry forest

    A police ammunition dump in a Berlin forest was shaken by explosions Thursday morning. After an especially long dry spell this summer, the forest was bone-dry and immediately caught fire.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Ammunitions catch fire

    While parts of the fire had been extinguished by Friday morning, more detonations are expected. The wind is flaring up on Friday, fanning the flames and spreading debris.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Threat of further explosions

    By Friday, the fire had reportedly been contained and while large parts of it had been, authorities were still waiting to gain access to the area itself.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    A site with a long history

    Since 1950 this area in West Berlin has been used to store 25 metric tons of World War II ammunition and other explosive ordnance. Controlled blasts are carried out there twice a year.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Heavy equipment

    Armored vehicles were swiftly sent to the scene to deliver water and remove debris. Authorities are now trying to get a close look at the site itself, with help from armored vehicles and robots — if they are able to do so amid concern about ongoing sporadic detonations.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Motorways and trains affected

    The Berlin fire department is looking to reopen the Avus highway and restart train traffic around the area as soon as possible. Thomas Kirstein, the spokesman for the Berlin Fire Department, said “almost everything we have in terms of high-tech equipment in Germany has been deployed to the scene.”

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Upscale district

    The site of the fire is far from the nearest homes and no one had to be evacuated, but authorities declared a 1,000-meter (more than half-mile) exclusion zone and the nearby AVUS highway and railway line remained closed on Friday.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Authorities react

    The cause of the fire remains unclear. Berlin’s governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, was quick to visit the scene on Thursday and announced her intention to start talks about a possible relocation of the explosives dump.

  • Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

    Too close for comfort

    An explosion site in the middle of a popular recreation area — Berliners now realize that poses a problem. But any relocation would be high-risk, as the safe removal and transport of World War II ammunition is next to impossible.

    Author: Rina Goldenberg


Fire officials were expected to say later on Monday whether a section of highway known as the AVUS could reopen.

Train services along a stretch of rail, parallel to the road but slightly further from the heart of the fire, started operating again on Saturday.

What happened at the site?

Berlin’s fire department deployed an array of specialized equipment to the forest, where a blaze, thought to have been sparked by an explosion in the early hours of Thursday, ripped through tinder-dry woodland.

An initially affected area of some 1.5 hectares spread to about 50 hectares (about 123 acres) by Thursday evening, before firefighters were able to get close enough to properly extinguish the fire.

The site was set up in Cold War-era West Berlin in 1950; 25 metric tons or more of fireworks, World War II ammunition and other explosive ordnance had been stored there before the fire began.

The 200 by 200 meter compound is used by Berlin’s explosive ordnance disposal service to store, defuse and detonate munitions — primarily those still being discovered to this day and dating from World War II. It’s also used for the storage and disposal of confiscated fireworks.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

rc/msh (dpa, AFP)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-plays-safe-after-fire-at-explosive-site-in-forest/a-62739287?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom

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