Explosion at munitions detonation site causes forest fire near Berlin

An explosion at a police munitions detonation site near Berlin caused a wildfire in the early morning on Thursday.

According to the Berlin fire brigade, a forest area of 15,000 square metres (161,458 square feet) was ablaze.

Update: Nach einer #Explosion auf dem #Sprengplatz im #Grunewald ist ein #Waldbrand ausgebrochen. Ein Teil der Explosion wurde in der Nacht gefilmt. Die Lage ist derzeit unübersichtlich. >> https://t.co/MoEaQy2ETL pic.twitter.com/BtivLwefcK

— rbb|24 (@rbb24) August 4, 2022

Firefighters were unable to tackle the flames directly due to the dangers of further explosions, said a fire brigade spokesman.

“We had explosion-like combustions and detonations. Debris was flying through the air, leading to a high danger to the life of the first responders, so they had to withdraw,” he added.

According to the spokesman, no injuries had been reported and residential areas had not been affected.

Police are blocking off an area with a radius of 1,000 metres (0.62 miles) around the detonation site. Public transport and roads around Berlin were affected.

Emergency personnel are damping down the surrounding forest areas