Firefighters and planes fight fire in German mountains September 7, 2024

Four firefighting planes and two helicopters were helping to fight the fire on Brocken mountain (JENS SCHLUETER)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Firefighters and planes fight fire in German mountains

Hundreds of firefighters, with the support of planes and helicopters, fought a large forest fire in the mountains of central Germany for the second day on Saturday.

The fire started in the Harz mountains a day earlier and led to the evacuation of around 500 hikers and other tourists from the area.

Around 250 firefighters were mobilized on Saturday to fight the blaze, a spokesman for the Harz district in the state of Saxony-Anhalt told AFP.

Four firefighting planes and two helicopters were helping with the effort on Brocken Mountain, according to spokesman Michael Randhahn-Schuelke.

Two more helicopters were expected to be dispatched later in the day.

“The police have closed access to the area,” said Randhahn-Schuelke.

The authorities of the Harz National Park, which covers the affected area, said that all hiking trails around Brocken had been closed.

In a message on its website, the park asked people not to enter the area “under any circumstances. Otherwise, you will put yourself in danger and get in the way of the fire brigade”.

On Friday, around 150 firefighters, with the support of planes and helicopters, tried to put out the blaze, but some emergency teams were forced to withdraw as the fire spread rapidly.

A major forest fire broke out in the Harz mountains in September 2022. The authorities declared a state of emergency and hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze for days.

Like other countries, Germany has recorded higher summer temperatures in recent years.

The EU's climate monitor said on Friday that the summer of 2024 in the northern hemisphere registered the highest global temperatures ever recorded, surpassing the high of 2023 and making this year probably the hottest ever recorded on Earth.

The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service followed a season of heatwaves around the world that scientists say have been intensified by man-made climate change.

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