Exposed but ready: How Brandenburg is preparing for forest fires

Wildfires burned across Europe on an extraordinary scale last year, from southern Europe to Türkiye in the continent's far east. 

Prolonged heat and drought are pushing fire services to the limit. In eastern Germany, the state of Brandenburg is facing the same growing danger.

With dry, sandy soils and vast pine forests, Brandenburg is particularly exposed. Local fire services say the risk has risen sharply as summers become hotter and drier.

"Because summers are getting warmer, the wildfire risk is very high," said Olaf Fetz, City Fire Chief of Treuenbrietzen. "On top of that, there are many areas contaminated with ammunition, which makes our work much harder."

Once a fire starts, it can spread quickly. "With wind, a fire can spread within minutes to the size of a football field," Fetz said.

The region has already seen how serious the consequences can be. In 2018, a major wildfire near Treuenbrietzen burned hundreds of hectares of forest and forced evacuations. "In 2018, more than 370 hectares burned. Towns had to be evacuated," Fetz said.

Fires broke out again in the same area in 2022 and 2025. Last year, firefighters were able to stop the blaze much sooner. 

"This time we were faster and stopped the fire at 13 hectares," Fetz said, pointing to better equipment and improved coordination.

The damage left behind is long lasting. Burned forest still stands next to healthy woodland in parts of Brandenburg, and experts say it could take around a hundred years for some areas to fully recover.

Scientists say these fires are not isolated events. Dr Christopher Reyer from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says climate change is creating the conditions that allow fires to burn more intensely.

"What is really changing is that we see drier conditions," Reyer said. "There is less water in the vegetation and in the soil. And whenever an ignition happens, the fire burns more intensively."

In Brandenburg, the risk is made worse by large monoculture pine forests and by unexploded ammunition left in the ground from past military use. Those conditions can limit how firefighters respond during major blazes.

To reduce the damage, Brandenburg has invested heavily in early detection technology. At wildfire monitoring centres across the state, rotating sensors scan the landscape around the clock.

"Today we use modern technology," said Raimund Engel, Wildfire Protection Officer for the State of Brandenburg. "Sensors rotate 360 degrees and scan the landscape. When smoke is detected, the system triggers an alarm."

Those alerts are sent within minutes, allowing emergency services to respond quickly. 

Engel says the results are clear. "Almost 90 percent of forest fires are detected so early that the affected area stays under one hectare," he said.

As Europe continues to warm, authorities warn that wildfires are no longer exceptional events. From Brandenburg to southern Europe and Türkiye, fires are becoming a regular feature of a warming climate.