According to police, the forest fire in Gottberg (Ostprignitz-Ruppin district) was caused by sparks that flew from a tractor for reasons still unknown. A 68-year-old man was mowing a field near the fire site with the tractor on Friday morning, a police spokesman said. The sparks initially set 0.5 hectares of field on fire. The fire then spread to 5 hectares of forest. The tractor did not catch fire.
According to a fire department spokesman, the emergency services were busy extinguishing the fire for around 13 hours. The last embers were extinguished in the evening.
The German Weather Service (DWD) expects a lower risk of forest fires in Brandenburg in the coming days. As early as Sunday, despite persistently high temperatures, the highest forest fire risk level 5 is expected at only four measuring stations, the DWD said. This corresponds to a very high risk.
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