A large wildfire broke out in the nature reserve near the former flow fields in Ter Apel on Sunday afternoon. A special fire brigade team from Overijssel flew in to extinguish the fire underground.
According to spokesperson Geert Walburg of the Groningen Security Region, the fire is now reasonably under control and there is “no longer any danger of transshipment”. A total of about 35 fire brigade units from Drenthe, Groningen and Germany have been deployed. The units came from, among others, Sleen, Westerbork, Twist (Germany), Stadskanaal, Gieten, Emmer-Compascuum and Ter Apel.
It is not yet known exactly how the fire started. The fire is raging in the nature reserve around the former flow fields, close to the border with Germany. There are three fires in the area. In the beginning, the fire service focused on extinguishing the western fire, because the other fire sources were difficult to reach.
A special fire brigade team has now flown in from Overijssel to help fight the fire. According to spokesman Walburg, the fire is “still in the ground” and that sometimes causes “sudden flames to come up”. Walburg describes this (‘it’s like a peat fire’) as a strange phenomenon. “The fire just rises.”
There is a specialized ground team in Overijssel that deals with such fires. They are currently drawing up a campaign plan with the remaining Groningen units. Most of the fire is under control, says Walburg, who says that more than two hundred people have been deployed for this fire.
The extinguishing water is taken from the Ruiten-Aa canal next to the Steenweg. There the vehicles are filled with 3000 liters of water and then drive into the nature reserve to extinguish the fire.
The fire service set up a so-called ‘stop line’ to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the Steenweg, which runs through the nature reserve in a southerly direction. This to protect the Ecovillage Land van Aine. That risk has now (Sunday evening) gone.
thousand liters of diesel
During the extinguishing, there was also the complication of an agricultural device with a diesel tank of about 1000 liters that was in the field. The ‘Feuerwehr’ from Germany turned out with a drone team to map the area. Spokesperson Walburg indicated earlier on Sunday that the extinguishing “will take a long time”.
Keep windows and doors closed
Because of the smoke development, people in the area were advised to close windows and doors. The forest surrounding the area was filled with smoke. Roads along the Ruiten-Aa Canal (south and east) were closed off. People watch the firefighters from the other side of the water. It was striking to see how much attention the fire attracted. Shortly after the first reports, curious people came to the fire in large numbers by car. They were eventually sent away because initially there was little room for the oncoming fire engines
It is the second major wildfire in the Northern Netherlands this weekend. On Friday, part of the forest near Musselkanaal went up in flames.