Forest fire on 3,000 square metres in Nuremberg forces evacuation of campsite and cuts short Marillion open-air concert

A forest fire broke out in south-east Nuremberg near the city's exhibition grounds on the evening of 10 July 2026, burning an area of roughly 3,000 square metres and triggering precautionary evacuations of a nearby campsite and an open-air concert. No injuries were reported, and the fire was brought under control within three hours.

What happened

The blaze was reported at approximately 21:45 local time on Friday. The fire centred on a wooded area in the south-east of the city, close to the Max-Morlock-Stadion, home of second-division football club 1. FC Nürnberg. Police spokesman Michael Petzold said the fire probably started in the area of an old Western-themed attraction that had been abandoned for at least ten years. "Apart from forest and an old Western town, there is nothing here," Petzold told reporters.

Emergency response

Up to 300 personnel from the fire brigade, police, and rescue services were deployed. A drone pilot provided the estimate of the 3,000-square-metre burn area. Just over three hours after the initial alert, the fire was declared under control.

There is nothing burning any more. The main fire is already extinguished.

Petzold added that crews remained on site overnight to locate and extinguish any embers. "It is still smoking," he said.

The German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance issued a warning for heavy smoke and the smell of burning in southern Nuremberg early on Saturday morning.

Evacuations and concert disruption

Between 20 and 30 people were brought to safety from a nearby campsite as a precaution. The Bavarian Red Cross announced at around 01:15 that 17 individuals were being cared for at a support centre. "These are people who had to be evacuated from the campsite as a result of the smoke development. There are still no injuries," the organisation stated.

At the Stadionpark, an outdoor venue located a few hundred metres from the fire, British rock band Marillion was performing an open-air concert. The show was stopped during the encore because of the heavy smoke, and attendees were asked to go home.

During the encore, the event was called off because of the strong smoke.

It remains unclear how many concertgoers were affected.

Cause and risk context

The cause of the fire is not yet known and will be investigated by the criminal police. Forest fire risk in the Franconia region is currently high due to dry conditions, with authorities conducting observation flights. The exhibition grounds themselves were not endangered, and the Messe, a significant economic driver for Nuremberg, was not threatened.

Regional memory

The incident comes just over a year after a larger forest fire near Erlangen, approximately 20 kilometres north of Nuremberg, at the end of April 2025. That fire affected around 40,000 square metres across several areas on a former military training ground, took almost a month to extinguish completely, and led the district authority to declare a state of emergency. Nine firefighters sustained minor injuries in that operation.