Great fire in Berlin Grunewald: A year after the Sprengplatz disaster - what has been done since then?

Great fire in Berlin Grunewald: A year after the Sprengplatz disaster - what has been done since then?

brand in the Grunewald: A year later - what has changed?

Large clouds from Rauch above the Grunewald, the pictures of the big fire on the edge of Berlin went around the world. Residents were asked not to enter the paths around the forest. It was a year ago that the Sprengplatz in the Grunewald burned and the city of Berlin was busy. Every minute was reported on August 4, 2022 and the days after the risk of an explosion and the possible effects for residents and the environment.

extinguishing aircraft from Saxony were requested, but the goods are already in use at other fires. Even drones and evacuation tanks were activated. It was open for several days whether the fire could be deleted and whether the ammunition stored there could explode. According to the fire brigade, this commitment was the most difficult and longest since World War II: a total of 716 firefighters were in use in the forest for 27 days. At the time when the fire broke out in 2022, ammunition and explosives were stored there.

At that time, the work of the fire brigade, the police and explosive master still went out lightly, even if 15,000 hectares in the Grunewald were badly damaged. A restricted area of ​​1000 meters was pulled around the area. What exactly has caused the original explosion has not yet been clarified. However, almost all forest fires are caused by humans, either by an oversight - such as a cocklike cigarette butt - in some cases but also deliberately. For example, the fires in Rhodes also assume a human cause a few weeks ago.

arson can be excluded in the case of the Grunewald, the police decided at the time a month after the incident. However, this year was researched because of the exact clarification of the cause, for the purpose of prevention.

The police learned from the incident, says Susanne Bauer, head of the LKA Berlin forensic technology. At that time she was a skin at the Grunewald case and actually imagined the fire differently. So many people felt, because with such damage you think of high flames and blazing trees. At that time it was a so -called floor fire, that is, it was mainly bushes and grass.

In addition, the amount of the explosive substances stored there was significantly reduced according to the Senate Administration. At the moment it was 4.4 tons, it said on Wednesday. "The reconstruction of Grunewald Sprengplatz was used," says police President Barbara Slovik, "to implement current standards."

The Sprengplatz there is still cordoned off and is not even accessible to Berlin forester. The forest is also contaminated with ordnance anyway and has not been cleared since the end of the war. During the fire last year, a container exploded and so 4,000 small grenades were distributed in the forest. According to the farmer, these are not only filled with explosives, but also with white phosphorus, which could trigger a new forest fire.

on the Sprengplatz in Grunewald, World War II ammunition has been mitigated since 1950, which is still found in or around Berlin. There are more than 7,000 crimes with explosive material in Berlin per year, including illegal fireworks. Most of it detonates there.

When the Grunewald was chosen as a place, Berlin was still shared, the Sprengplatz was on the outskirts, not far from the wall. But with the reunification, the square was suddenly no longer on the edge, but in the middle of it between Potsdam and Berlin. Since the Grunewald explosion, the debate has emerged whether Sprengplatz should not be closed and bombing can be shifted to Brandenburg's uninhabited areas.

Interior Senator Iris Spanger (SPD) has now finally spoken out against it: "Grunewald's Sprengplatz will remain." She also stayed with a current press conference. He is the only sprengplatz in Berlin for the disposal of old finds and also important for securing evidence. However, the safety of the site is to be worked on.

Susanne Bauer from the LKA is confident: "There is never such a fire again." Fires can never be completely prevented, but massive emergency showers were carried out over the winter, so that there is hardly any ammunition left. Only in the Grunewald is there enough residential areas to ensure this, says Susanne Bauer. The outsourcing to Brandenburg is not feasible, is "incredibly dangerous", because then you would have to transport the ammunition through densely inhabited areas.

So no more uncontrolled explosions in the Grunewald? That is hope. But how about fires? "The cause of the fire is always human - whether negligent or willful," says Sara Lühmann from the Senate Department for Transport. In Berlin there has been an initiative since 2012 to reforest from needle forest on mixed forest. Around 4 million young trees are to be planted every year. The mixed forest, mostly elms, oaks and beeches, expands around 100 hectares per year, and also the wearing of fire. On the one hand, green leaves do not burn as easily as needles, on the other hand, this leaves become humus faster, which also does not flamed as easily as centimeter thick layers of need.

Nevertheless, there are risks, so the forest fire risk in Berlin increases due to the continuing drought in the course of the climate crisis. For early detection, a sensor should also be installed and six new hydrants for extinguishing water should be installed.

Incredible as an early warning system, says Sara Lühmann, but are particularly Berlin forest visitors. If you go hiking carefully, you can see Rauch and flames earlier, especially in little monitored places. With around 300 million forest visitors per year, it praises the comparatively small number of misconduct, but also emphasizes that most of the damage caused by disregarding the leash obligation for dogs and the ban on smoking. So if you really want to help the Grunewald, go hiking, with open eyes and if possible without leaving traces. (with dpa)