Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions

A police ammunition dump in a Berlin forest was shaken by explosions Thursday morning. After an especially long dry spell this summer, the forest was bone-dry and immediately caught fire.

Firefighters are still seeking to fully extinguish the blaze at Berlin's city ordnance disposal area this week, days after the fire broke out caused by an explosion at the site. The goal was to reduce the size of the area at risk, officials said, adding that the situation was stable but not yet fully under control. The wind is fanning the flames and spreading debris.

According to estimates, the fire department operation will continue for days with firefighters — using high-tech surveillance equipment — looking for still-smoldering embers. An initially affected area of some 1.5 hectares had spread to about 50 hectares (about 123 acres) on Thursday last week before firefighters were even able to get close enough to properly extinguish the fire.

Since 1950 this area in West Berlin has been used by Berlin's explosive ordnance service to store 25 metric tons of World War II ammunition, confiscated fireworks and other explosive ordnance. Controlled blasts are carried out there twice a year.

Armored vehicles were swiftly sent to the scene to deliver water and remove debris. Authorities are now trying to get a close look at the site itself, with help from robots.

The Avus highway remains closed off, although the traffic around the area was meant to restart as soon as possible. Thomas Kirstein, the spokesman for the Berlin Fire Department, said "almost everything we have in terms of high-tech equipment in Germany has been deployed to the scene."

The site of the fire is far from the nearest homes and no one had to be evacuated, but authorities declared a 1,000-meter (more than half-mile) exclusion zone and the nearby AVUS highway and railway line remained closed on Friday.

The cause of the fire remains unclear. Berlin's governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, was quick to visit the scene on Thursday and announced her intention to start talks about a possible relocation of the explosives dump.

An explosion site in the middle of a popular recreation area — Berliners now realize that poses a problem. But any relocation would be high-risk, as the safe removal and transport of World War II ammunition is next to impossible.