Because of a forest fire in the Schwarzatal in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, the fire brigade has been on a large scale since Thursday evening. According to the police, the extinguishing work was still difficult on Friday because of the steep slope. The road between Bad Blankenburg and Schwarza was closed for hours and was reopened early Friday afternoon.
Fire brigade and THW on fire
160 helpers from several fire brigades from the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) have been on duty since late Thursday evening. A police helicopter was also requested on Friday morning to help clear the approximately two-hectare area. He fetched water from a nearby dam and threw it over the scene of the fire.
The spokesman for the district office said that the extinguishing of the embers should continue as long as there is daylight. Fire guards are to be set up during the night, and the situation will be further assessed on Saturday. It was initially unclear why the fire broke out.
Pilot sees forest fire from the air
The fire was also discovered by a pilot from the air: Andreas Schmidt was in the area with his sports plane on Thursday when he saw smoke rising on the horizon. “I then reported the fire to German air traffic control,” said the hobby pilot MDR THÜRINGEN. Then he circled over the flames for about an hour – to help the fire brigade.
Because, as Schmidt reports, it is always difficult for the emergency services on the ground to find the location of the fire in forests or rough terrain. Sometimes, for example, the smoke from below cannot be detected through closed treetops. The situation can be monitored from the air. This time, too, Schmidt passed on the relevant information to air traffic control, which in turn was in contact with the fire brigade control center.
He had already had a similar experience with another brand last year. “It’s crazy,” says Schmidt, “from above it looks as if the fire department is literally there, but they don’t get it.”
Schmidt, who lives in the Geratal and describes himself as a passionate hobby pilot, is also concerned about the Thuringian Forest. In view of the fires that keep occurring, he says: “It’s a real danger, you just have to take action.” And so when he’s out and about in a small plane in his free time, he’s also on the lookout for possible problems: “You can give something back to the community and prevent major damage.”
40,000 square meters of field near Erfurt in flames
Due to the heat and drought, forest and wildfires are common in Thuringia at the moment. In the past few days, fields and forests have burned again and again. More than 100 firefighters often fought the flames during an operation. Again and again, farmers helped by providing extinguishing water.