Because of a forest fire, around 500 people are being brought to safety from the Brocken. They are tourists, hikers and athletes, said a spokesperson for the Harz district. They are being brought down from the Harz summit by bus.
The fire was discovered in the afternoon at Königsberg. District fire chief Kai-Uwe Lohse initially said the fire was 300 meters long.
In the evening, two planes from Lower Saxony, a plane from the Harz district and a helicopter were involved in the fire-fighting operations. According to a district spokesman, there were also around 100 firefighters on the ground.
The town of Wernigerode and the Harz district formed a joint task force. The Harz narrow-gauge railways reported that the route between Drei Annen Hohne and the Brocken was closed due to the forest fire. There would be significant delays.
The risk of forest fires is currently very high in large parts of Saxony-Anhalt. Recently, forest and field fires occurred mainly in the north of the state. Most of them were quickly extinguished.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240906-930-225471/2
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