Firefighters in Spain and Germany struggled to contain wildfires on Sunday amid an unusual heat wave in Western Europe for this time of year.
Residents had to be evacuated after a forest fire blazed through Treuenbrietzen in the south-west of Berlin, as the country joined others seeing rising temperatures earlier in the year than normal.
Three districts around the fire have been evacuated, with a fourth also coming under threat as hundreds of residents leave their homes and apartments.
Approximately 620 people have evacuated their homes according to Andrea Metzler, spokeswoman for the district, who said that flying sparks had ignited a field – according to RBB24.
The site is a former blasting and training ground with ammunition and explosive ordnance in the ground, stopping the firefighters from getting directly to the fire.
The government has set up an emergency shelter in the Stadthalle Treuenbrietzen for evacuees.
In the early morning hours, another forest fire broke out in the Trecktal area of the Upper Harz mountain range, Lower Saxony, along with a forest fire in Potsdam-Mittelmark that also sparked up on Sunday.
Germany’s national weather service predicted that the high temperatures would continue over the weekend, as the heat moves into central and Eastern Europe, approaching 30 degrees Celsius in some areas.
Approaching thunderstorms and shower-like rain are expected before the temperatures levels off.
The heatwave follows an unusually dry spring in Western Europe, with authorities ordering water to be rationed in northern Italy and parts of France and Germany.
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Source: Daily Mail
