Villages in Germany evacuated as forest wildfire spreads

Three villages southwest of Berlin have been evacuated as wildfire the size of 400 soccer fields spread today. Hundreds of firefighters were trying to cut trees to make long swathes in the forests to prevent the fire from spreading further.

More than 500 people had to leave their homes as a result of the fire in Treuenbrietzen, 50 kilometres (31 miles) outside of Berlin, the German capital.

According to Christian Stein, a local lawmaker told the German news agency, “Our main goal is to protect the evacuated villages from the flames.”

The German police, “We haven’t been able to push back the fire but one of the buildings have been damaged.” They said that their plans to douse the flames have been complicated by old ammunition from WWII, which was still buried in the forests and could explode because to the fires.

The fire was started on Thursday afternoon. At night, the authorities had evacuated the villages of Frohnsdorf Klausdorf and Tiefenbrunnen. Winds blew the smoke of the fires to Berlin overnight. People in some areas were asked to keep their windows closed.