Berlin fire brigade: most dangerous operation since the war

By Isabel Pancake and Isabel Herwig

And nobody knows exactly what the fire brigades will face next. Even more than 24 hours after the fire broke out on a Berlin blast site in the forest, the fire brigade is only slowly approaching the fire-hazardous location. Heavy equipment and demolition expert Dietmar Püpke (57) provided the first insights there on Friday (5 August).

The fire brigade now has most of the flames in Grunewald under control. But the ground on the blast site in Berlin’s Grunewald that caught fire was still 700 degrees hot in some places on Friday, according to the police.

In order to reduce the risk of further explosions from remains of ammunition, these areas would have to be cooled with water, said police spokesman Thilo Cablitz – findings from the exploration of the area by police blast master Püpke and experts from the Bundeswehr in a recovery tank in the morning.

In addition, two bombs from the world war, each weighing 250 kilograms, were torn from their holders on the blast site. Although they did not explode, they also got very hot and had to be cooled. The fire brigade and a special company with a fire fighting vehicle are in action for this.

► The restricted area around the site and the closures of the motorway and railway lines were initially maintained on Friday. Only when the cooling is successful and the danger decreases can the restricted area be reduced to a radius of 600 meters and the motorway and railway lines then be released again, said Cablitz.

“It is the most challenging and dangerous firefighting operation by the Berlin fire brigade in post-war history,” said the fire brigade on Friday afternoon.

The mission will continue on Friday and the next few days.

First demolition experts, now robots in action

After the demolition expert was first driven up to the detonation site in a tank, a private company’s fire fighting vehicle and four extinguishing robots, which drive towards the fire by remote control, are able to pull hoses behind them and spray water, are now in action. A police helicopter and a fire brigade drone with thermal imaging cameras were again in the air on Friday.

The fire brigade pumped the extinguishing water over more than three kilometers from the Havel and the Krumme Lanke lake with the help of a fireboat and various fire engines.

We have “almost everything that is available in Germany in terms of technology” approached, said fire brigade press spokesman Thomas Kirstein.

Bitterly necessary to get to the ammunition-contaminated source of the fire. Risk of death! “We have to expect that detonations and debris will continue to fly,” the fire department said.

Around 25 tons of World War I ammunition and illegal fireworks are stored there. Explosions can be heard again and again, debris flying around.

Around 150 members of the Berlin fire brigade are currently working around the forest fire in Grunewald. So far there have been 400 in total. In addition, the volunteer fire brigade is on site and provides support, as well as many forces from the Berlin police, the federal police, the armed forces, the technical relief organization, the German Red Cross, the Johanniter Unfallhilfe, the Malteser relief service and private individuals companies.