Gohrischheide forest fire grows to 19 hectares as unexploded ordnance keeps firefighters at a distance
For the second summer in a row, a wildfire is spreading across the former military training area between Saxony and Brandenburg, where old munitions force firefighters to watch from safe paths.
Fire re-ignites in former military area
A wildfire broke out around 15:00 on 27 June 2026 in the Gohrischheide nature reserve, on the border of Saxony and Brandenburg. The fire started in the area of the former airfield and north of the old bunker, a zone already hit by a large blaze in 2022. Within a short time it grew from an initial three hectares to 19 hectares. Around 100 emergency personnel are deployed, and helicopters together with a protected firefighting vehicle have been requested.
UXO legacy blocks firefighters
The reserve was used as a military training ground from the Kaiserzeit through both world wars and later by the Soviet army, leaving it strewn with unexploded ordnance (UXO). Because of the danger of explosions, fire crews can move only along officially cleared paths.
The mayor of Zeithain, Mirko Pollmer, said the situation is “very unsatisfactory” and that fire services cannot approach the flames directly “because we have no protected equipment.” Instead, crews stand on safe tracks monitoring the fire’s spread.Active firefighting by our colleagues is once again impossible due to the munitions contamination.
Last year’s catastrophic fire
Almost exactly a year earlier, on 1 July 2025, a massive fire erupted in the same reserve. The blaze burned for nearly two weeks before firefighters gave the all-clear. The state forestry administration rated it as the largest wildfire in Saxony in decades. Around 2,400 hectares (more than three quarters of the roughly 2,000‑hectare protected area) were affected. An investigation concluded that the fire had been triggered by heat-induced spontaneous ignition of old munitions in the ground.
Scale comparison
A comparison of the areas burned shows the dramatic difference in fire size between the two events.
- July 2025
- 2400 hectares
- June 2026
- 19 hectares
Political stalemate over clearing munitions
After the 2025 disaster, there were renewed political calls to cleanse the nature reserve of UXO. The environment ministry declared it would clear individual sections, but a full clearance of the entire 2,000‑hectare site was ruled out. Environment minister Georg-Ludwig von Breitenbuch cited the cost: removing munitions from one hectare costs about one million euros. The area’s high fire load (dry pine needles, dead wood and tall grass on former burn scars) adds to the recurring risk.
