Specialist firefighting vehicles entered Berlin’s Grunewald forest to tackle a fire that presented a difficult challenge. Efforts to put out the fire at an ammunition site were hampered as the stored weapons exploded.
Specialist firefighting vehicles entered Berlin’s Grunewald forest on Friday to tackle an ordinance site fire that presented a difficult challenge. Included were armored vehicles, tanks and fire-fighting robots.
Berlin’s fire department has deployed a range of specialist equipment into the forest, where a fire has engulfed dry woodland.
Initial efforts to put out the fire were hampered by explosions at the site, on the edge of the German capital, where the ammunition was being stored.
How is the blaze being tackled?
Firefighters on Thursday set up a kilometer (about half a mile) cordon around the original fire, ready in a ring formation to tackle the blaze as it spread.
Later in the day, the first work was done to tackle the fire in the restricted area. To see also : The top 8 destinations in the United States for dinosaur lovers. In the list of equipment used to minimize risk and maximize firefighting efforts were Bundeswehr armored vehicles and tanks.
The fire spread quickly after an explosion at the police ammunition storage site
Emergency vehicles were able to advance up to 500 meters from the ordinance site area.
The 200 by 200 meter compound is used by Berlin’s explosive ordnance disposal service to store, remove and detonate munitions — primarily those still being discovered today after the Second World War.
Before the vehicles entered, the site was checked from the air using drones, satellite images and helicopters. A thermal imaging camera was used to provide further clues as to how the fire could be tackled.
Firefighting efforts to continue throughout the day
The fire department used “almost everything in Germany in terms of technology,” spokesman Thomas Kirstein said. To see also : Politics and Markets 04/04/21. Experts and military personnel are also available to provide assistance.
Kirstein said the wildfire surrounding the landfill had been largely extinguished, with about 150 firefighters still working on the scene Friday morning. Firefighting efforts were expected to continue throughout the day.
Kirstein said that an assessment is still being made on how dangerous the situation is in the compound itself. This will determine whether firefighters can enter the area, and whether nearby closed railway lines and a stretch of highway known as the AVUS can be reopened.
The site was set up in Cold War-era West Berlin in the 1950s, with 25 metric tons or more of fireworks, World War II ammunition and other explosive munitions previously stored there the fire did not start.
