Grunewald Go BOOM!

The Grunewald is a 7,500-acre forest in the western part of the city of Berlin. Early this morning a police “detonation site” in the center of the forest was shaken by a massive accidental explosion, which caused an out-of-control blaze in the surrounding forest. Fighting the fire is being complicated by continuing explosions, which prevent firemen from getting anywhere near the blaze. The hot weather and drought are exacerbating the situation. The fire is expected to continue burning for an indefinite time.

For the full story (in German), see the Berliner Morgenpost. English-language reports may be read here and here (it’s possible these are machine translations).

Many thanks to MissPiggy for translating this video report, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:04   Fire and detonations in Berlin’s Grunewald forest.
00:08   A large fire broke out on a Berlin police blasting site this morning after an accidental explosion.
00:15   Around 15,000 square meters were burning uncontrollably on Thursday morning.
00:20   For safety reasons, the fire department was initially unable to carry out any extinguishing work.
00:24   Drought and heat added to the difficulty.
00:28   Fires were caused by explosions, with debris flying through the air.
00:33   So much so that the first responders were in extreme danger and had to retreat.
00:37   We’re now at a distance of 1,000 meters from this blast site. At the moment,
00:41   no active firefighting measures are taking place. The safety of our emergency forces comes first.
00:46   The emergency forces are irrigating surrounding forest areas within a 1,000-meter radius
00:51   to prevent the fire from spreading. The fire department said the situation remains volatile.
00:56   Emergency personnel from the fire department, police and federal armed forces are on the scene.
01:00   Helicopters provide a picture of the situation from the air.
01:03   There’s no threat to residential areas.
01:06   Residents are nevertheless called upon to keep windows and doors closed. As well as
01:10   turning off ventilation and air conditioning systems to protect themselves from fumes.
01:15   There’s a reason the Grunewald blasting site is in the middle of the forest. For this reason,
01:19   no residential areas are affected in the 1,000-meter radius and no one has been injured.
01:23   Fortunately. And none of our emergency service personnel have been injured, despite
01:27   the very dramatic scenes here this morning. We urgently warn against entering the Grunewald
01:31   on your own within this 1,000-meter exclusion radius. —Approximately 50 tons of unexploded
01:36   ordnance are said to have been stored at the explosion site.
01:40   Public transportation has been restricted, and the Avus city highway has been closed.
01:44   In the meantime, the fire department began using two water cannons and was able to start
01:48   extinguishing the fire. It is still unclear how the explosion could have occurred.
 

2 thoughts on “Grunewald Go BOOM!

  1. There is an unbelievable amount of WWII ordinance at this site, so it looks like someone blew something up and the resulting fires are setting off the rest of it in the area.

Comments are closed.