Wildfire on former military range in Müritz National Park expands to 269 hectares, complicated by exploding ordnance

Fire progression and current scale

A large wildfire in the Müritz National Park in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has grown to 269 hectares, the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district announced on 15 July 2026. The affected area, equivalent to nearly 400 football fields, has been burning since Monday. Approximately 375 emergency personnel are currently on site, with additional support expected to arrive from Bavaria on Thursday morning. The district has also requested 150 irrigation sprinklers (Kreisregner) nationwide, with units now arriving from Bavaria, Saxony, and Brandenburg.

Munition hazards and firefighting constraints

The fire is burning on a former military training area heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance. A district spokesperson told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that explosions are frequent and clearly audible. "Relatively a lot of ammunition is exploding," the spokesperson said, adding that larger calibers are involved, including tank shells found on the site in the past. The ordnance prevents firefighters from approaching the fire directly. Instead, crews are working to contain the blaze from outside by creating firebreaks using irrigation sprinklers that saturate strips of land to halt the fire's spread.

It explodes relatively a lot of ammunition. The comrades can actually hear it when they are not standing next to a pump.

Evacuations and protective measures

The village of Granzin, with approximately 400 residents, remains under evacuation orders first issued on Tuesday. The fire had advanced to about 1,200 metres from the nearest house. A field between the forest edge and the settlement has been ploughed multiple times to bury combustible material underground, and irrigation sprinklers have been deployed there as a protective barrier. The district has also appealed to local farmers to keep harrows and water tanks ready during harvesting to quickly extinguish any new fires that may spark, relieving pressure on emergency services.

Operational scale and duration

The district expects the operation to continue for days. A similar fire occurred at the end of June on another nearby former military training area within the national park, affecting more than 100 hectares and requiring a multi-day response. The current wildfire prompted a regional exercise in the affected area in October 2024, indicating awareness of the risk. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) is scheduled to visit the region on Thursday, with a press conference planned for the morning.

Local impacts

The fire has disrupted tourism and outdoor activities. Ingo Hecht, who runs a canoe rental business in nearby Kratzeburg, reported difficulties retrieving customers whose routes are blocked by waterway and path closures. His business is operating on a reduced schedule, with half his staff already assisting in firefighting as volunteer firefighters. Customer demand has dropped, and available routes are significantly shorter. The district police have urged the public to avoid cycling and hiking trails in the affected area, and canoeists have been asked not to transition from the lakes into the Havel River. The eastern part of the national park and other areas such as Mirow remain unaffected, with tourist activities continuing normally.