Several forest fires in Brandenburg

From BZ/dpa

The police said that this was the case with a series of fires in the Oranienburg area (Oberhavel). Within a few days there had been numerous small fires in close proximity to each other.

Traces have been secured, said Christin Knospe, spokeswoman for the police department north of the German Press Agency on Monday. “We check the connections.”

According to the Ministry of the Environment, human activity causes more than 90 percent of all forest fires with up to 99 percent of the areas damaged by forest fires. “That causes us massive problems,” reported Deputy Forest Fire Protection Officer Philipp Haase on Monday.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the highest level of forest fire risk was five in almost the entire country on Monday. Only in Potsdam-Mittelmark was the second highest level four. Brandenburg has a forest area of ​​around 1.1 million hectares.

376 fires since the start of the season

A fire broke out southwest of Gransee (Oberhavel) on Monday. Haase was initially unable to say whether the fire was on a field or in a wooded area. The forest fire early detection system registered a large amount of smoke.

In the Lieberoser Heide, the emergency services are still doing post-extinguishing work after the big fire on an area of ​​90 hectares three weeks ago. There are still up to 20 smaller fires, said Haase.

The number of fires since the wildfire season began rose to around 376 fires across an area of ​​around 930 hectares. The risk of forest fires is still very high, emphasized the forest fire protection expert.