OUR Fire which broke out at dawn in an ammunition depot in the Grunewald Forest, west of Berlin, continues to spiral out of control as continuous eruptions prevent firefighters from reaching it. Now the robot Theodore enters the battle to neutralize explosive objects of the German armed forces, which is called to conduct an opening of the area.

Explosions at a warehouse where the Berlin police collect and destroy illegal ammunition and fireworks began at 03:30 and are still ongoing. It is estimated that there were about 25 tons of explosives in the warehouse. Their destruction stops in June, due to the increased fire risk in the summer months.

The fire department has planned a 1,000-meter safety zone around the facility and is waiting for the blasts to stop to try and put out the fire. Even the remote-controlled Teodor, which carries a lifting boom with four cameras that transmit data to the operations center and is able to pass a 300-meter zone from the scene, cannot work while the explosions continue.

🇩🇪 Several explosions at an ammunition depot have caused a major fire in one of the largest urban forests in Berlin.

According to reports, about 100 firefighters arrived at the scene to extinguish a fire in the Grunwald forest in the west of the city. pic.twitter.com/p8bratrzrR

— euronews (@euronews) August 4, 2022

Firefighting finally began in the late afternoon, and firefighters were active in some areas in the zone from 1000 to 500 meters. However, the fire brigade cannot rely on the participation of a military fire helicopter, at least while a forest fire rages on the German-Czech border, in which large forces are involved.

Motorways and railways were suspended around Grunewald in the morning, while authorities warned residents of the wider area to keep doors and windows closed and ventilation and air conditioning systems turned off. However, the mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffay, stressed that there was no need to evacuate residents. “There are no houses within a radius of two kilometers,” he explained.

The operation of the state police explosives depot, located a few kilometers from residential areas, has caused confrontation between the parties in the past. The deputy group of Christian Democrats (CDU) in the local parliament today called for its closure and finding another place. “This extremely dangerous ‘explosive’ place does not belong in a recreational area,” said K.O. CDU and offered to start negotiations on cooperation with the neighboring state of Brandenburg.

^{Source: APE – deputy}