BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Wind, heat and drought had rekindled a forest fire at the former military training area near Jueterbog in the German federal state of Brandenburg, the city's deputy mayor Joachim Wasmansdorff told the local newspaper rbb on Friday.
The fire had spread over at least 100 hectares and the situation was "unclear," said Wasmansdorff.
Buried and abandoned ammunitions in the former military training area were causing problems for the emergency services, the deputy mayor noted.
The area could not be entered by emergency services due to the high risk of explosion, so local firefighters had to keep a distance of 1,000 meters from the fire in order not to endanger themselves.
Two firefighting helicopters of the state police and federal police were also fighting the fire from the air, said Wasmandorff.
The heat was also a problem. Weather Service said temperatures had already reached 30 degrees Celsius by noon.
"The volunteer fire brigades are doing a superhuman job here even in the high heat," Wasmansdorff added.
The fire on the former military training ground broke out early Thursday evening and the local fire services thought that it was under control on Friday morning.
"Unfortunately, the wind is very strong at the moment, which always ignites the fires," said Wasmansdorff.
The government in Brandenburg had issued the second highest forest fire warning level for much of the federal state on Friday.
In June there had been a devastating forest fire elsewhere on the former military training site in Brandenburg.
The fire in June took one week to extinguish and up to 744 hectares were on fire, making it the largest forest fire in Brandenburg to date.
