It rained heavily for only 15 minutes, said the spokesman for the district of Saxon Switzerland-Osterzgebirge, Thomas Kunz, in the evening of the German Press Agency. The only effect was that because of the precipitation, smoke rose from embers and these became visible.
“If the weather doesn’t change, there’s no chance of improvement,” said Kunz. An end to the operation is not in sight. “We no longer calculate in days, we calculate in weeks,” he said. “The situation is still tense.”
150 hectares of forest affected
In Saxon Switzerland, which is popular with holidaymakers, around 150 hectares of forest are affected by the fires – an area almost as large as the island of Heligoland. On the Czech side, too, the fire brigade is still in constant use. There, the burning area is about seven times as large at 1,060 hectares. Several firefighters were injured.
In the forest fire area in southern Brandenburg, the emergency services have meanwhile requested reinforcements. Because summer temperatures were predicted without significant precipitation, further fire protection units had been requested from the country, the Elbe-Elster district announced on Saturday evening. “This situation poses a risk of flaring fires.”
“Near Exhaustion”
In Arzberg in the district of North Saxony, Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) got an overview on Saturday afternoon. He encouraged the people in the affected areas. “We stick together here. We will overcome this serious crisis.” Kretschmer was emotionally touched: “It takes me away because it’s my home in Saxony, because I see how people suffer here, how they are on the verge of exhaustion.” The pictures from the flood of 2002 are present again for him. He now suddenly feels this exhaustion and hopelessness again, but also the strength that existed back then.
In Saxon Switzerland, 560 emergency services fought the fire on Saturday. This number is expected to be maintained throughout the weekend. There are now 13 helicopters on site for fire-fighting flights. In addition, quads have been ordered, with which the fire-fighting crews can be supplied more easily and quickly, it said.
More fires discovered
On Friday evening, during a helicopter reconnaissance flight, further fires with heavy smoke were discovered along the German-Czech border; including in the Partschenhörner area, on the Großer Winterberg and on the Kleiner Zschand. “These are currently being actively deleted,” the district office announced on Saturday afternoon. In doing so, firefighting helicopters are primarily used.
The helicopters are also deleting on the Czech side, it said. In addition, it has been agreed with the Czech Republic that helicopters can take on water in the other area and fly over the country in the shortest possible direction to the deployment site.
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Disaster alert in two cities
The devastating fire in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic last weekend and spread to the Saxon Switzerland National Park on Monday. Disaster alert applies in the cities of Bad Schandau and Sebnitz.
According to the German authorities, four firefighters have been injured in the operation so far. Two of them had to be hospitalized. There have been no injuries among the population so far. In the Czech forest fire area, a firefighter was hit and seriously injured by a falling tree on Saturday afternoon.
Hundreds of firefighters on duty
In the Bohemian Switzerland National Park on the Czech side, the fire brigade stepped up their efforts. On Saturday, 220 additional forces were pulled together from all over the Czech Republic, as a spokesman said. The number of firefighters in the operation has increased to more than 650. The forest fire raged over an area of 10.6 square kilometers, as confirmed by satellite images. The Bohemian Switzerland National Park borders directly on the Saxon Switzerland.
While there were heavy rain showers in Prague, 90 kilometers away, only light precipitation was expected in Bohemian Switzerland. “We will actively go into the embers, pour water over them and dig up the ground,” said fire department spokesman Lukas Marvan on Czech television. The fire-fighting work is supported by eight helicopters and five fire-fighting aircraft. Access to large parts of the national park area has now been banned to keep onlookers away.
Source: Nachrichten
