German wildfire spreads as unexploded bombs keep firefighters 1km away
Old munitions buried in the soil from an abandoned military training ground in Mueritz National Park have forced firefighters to stay away
Unexploded munitions were hampering efforts by firefighters to tackle a blaze in a national park in northern Germany, local officials said on Wednesday.
Old munitions buried in the soil from an abandoned military training ground have forced them to stay at least 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) from the flames, officials from the Mecklenburg Seenplatte district said.
“Emergency services cannot actively put out the fire – that is the problem,” district spokesman Marten Schroeder said of the fire in Mueritz National Park.
“This safety distance of 1,000 metres also means that you couldn’t drop water from a helicopter, for example, because it would have to fly so high up that the wind would blow the water off course,” he added.
Officials warned that the wildfire there was growing after a village had to be evacuated for a second time.
The fire has now stretched over about 150 hectares (370 acres) of the park, officials in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said, adding that the flames were spreading.