Moor fire 2018 (Emsland)

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Smoke cloud near Sögel on September 19, 2018

The moor fire in Emsland 2018 - or moor fire near Meppen - was a major fire north of the Lower Saxony city ​​of Meppen on the grounds of the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 91 or in the Tinner Dose-Sprakeler Heide nature reserve in September and October 2018. Fire fighting on an area of ​​1000  hectares was at peak times at the same time up to 1700 fire fighters , members of the technical relief organization , the police , the federal police , the rescue services and the armed forces on duty.

course

Formation and attempts to extinguish the Bundeswehr

The company Airbus Helicopters carried out missile tests on behalf of the German Armed Forces during the drought in the European summer of 2018 on the grounds of the Wehrtechnischen Dienststelle 91 near Meppen. It was on September 3, 2018 inadvertently a bog area by unguided 70mm - air-to-surface missiles , the one Tiger Eurocopter had fired in fire set. A total of 74 missiles were fired. A Pistenbully 400 W fire extinguisher with a weight of around 13 tons and 3,200 liters of extinguishing water, which is particularly suitable for this type of terrain, failed during the first extinguishing measures due to a technical defect. The second fire extinguisher of this type was in the workshop at the time.

The responsible authorities of Lower Saxony, including the rescue control center of the Emsland district and the Meppen volunteer fire brigade, were informed "about a fire incident" on the WTD on September 3, without a request for help.

The wind changed on the weekend of September 8th and 9th, 2018, so that the fire spread. The flying sparks overcame the bolt positions and spread further.

Because of the south-westerly wind, the fire could be smelled as far as Oldenburg , Bremen and Hamburg on September 11, 2018 and caused various emergency calls from concerned citizens.

Large-scale deployment of civil forces and declaration of a disaster

Due to a request from the Bundeswehr, THW emergency services were alerted on September 13, 2018. These were mainly specialist groups on water damage / pumps and logistics , as well as some rescue groups . A first meeting, in which information was given about the spread of the fire, took place between the Bundeswehr and representatives of the state of Lower Saxony on the morning of September 14, 2018. At this point, the volunteer fire brigades were not used. This assessment changed in the afternoon of the same day and the fire departments of the Emsland were alerted.

The first pollutant measurements did not take place until September 18, 2018, 2 weeks after the fire broke out.

On September 19, 2018, three pumping sections for the fire water supply were in operation. Water was pumped from a river onto the dry area in order to (re) wet the moor and to stop the fire from spreading further. Some of the water was used to fill tank fire engines.

On September 21, 2018, the district of Emsland declared the disaster . The residents of the towns of Stavern and Sögel to the east of the fire should prepare for a possible evacuation . On September 21, 2018, the 164 Special Pioneer Regiment took over the overall management of the operation.

The fire, which was smoldering for weeks , expanded to an area of ​​twelve square kilometers by September 22, 2018 and caused visual impairments more than 100 kilometers away, e.g. B. in the area of ​​the city of Bremen . As of September 22, 2018, the German Armed Forces began using Tornado aircraft , which were supposed to locate underground embers with infrared thermal imaging cameras in order to be able to extinguish them in a targeted manner.

The rain that set in on September 23, 2018 prevented further smoke development. Due to the rain and the extinguishing work, there were no more aboveground fires from September 24, 2018.

Reinhard Winter , in his capacity as the district administrator of the Emsland district , lifted the disaster on September 27, 2018.

Stabilization of the situation and end of the extinguishing work

On October 4, 2018, the Bundeswehr announced that the last civilian forces had withdrawn from the mission and that “sole responsibility” had now returned to the Bundeswehr.

At noon on October 10, 2018, the Bundeswehr announced that the fire had been completely extinguished. The day before, the reconnaissance flight of a tornado had shown no more embers.

On October 26, 2018, the Bundeswehr announced that reconnaissance flights with drones had been suspended, but that the Bundeswehr fire station was still cooling individual heat sources.

According to the federal government, 1,000 hectares of bog were destroyed. The fire went to a depth of 60 cm.

Applied forces

The Lower Saxony regional association of the German Red Cross ended its operation with 220 deployed personnel on September 26, 2018. In order to support the fire brigade, the DRK had operated a care place with accommodation and food for over 1200 emergency personnel.

Between September 19 and 27, more than 1,100 police officers were on duty for a total of 8,000 hours. Directorates from Lower Saxony and riot police were deployed in the background of the potential evacuation measures.

After the end of its own work from September 13 to October 4, 2018, the THW took stock: 3,250 helpers from all over Germany performed 200,000 hours of work during the moor fire. Previous estimates by the THW were 1900 helpers with 93,000 hours of work.

A total number of firefighters deployed was not yet available in autumn 2018: the Lower Saxony Fire Brigade Association reported up to 700 firefighters from all over Lower Saxony every day .

Reactions

society

The fire sparked criticism of the Bundeswehr's actions and public communication. The residents around the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 91 criticized that they had not been warned about the smoke development. The Bremen fire brigade also complained about a lack of information from the Bundeswehr.

The citizens' initiative “Moorbrand 2018 - We help!” Was founded in mid-September to thank the emergency services on site and to support them above all with donated food. By organizing them via the social network Facebook and reporting in the media, the group grew to over 3000 supporters in a few days. The fundraising campaign "Moorbrand 2018 - We help" was ceremoniously ended on November 24, 2018 with a party in Stavern.

politics

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil ( SPD ) said: "If I am to be honest - I would never have thought of organizing target practice in the moor of all places after this dry summer." Weil made an impression of the on September 22, 2018 Situation on site.

The Lower Saxony state parliament Christian Meyer ( Alliance 90 / The Greens ) reimbursed for his group for negligent arson criminal complaint against the Bundeswehr. The public prosecutor's office in Osnabrück is investigating unknown persons because of the initial suspicion of negligent arson. The public prosecutor's office and the police searched the military technical department on September 20 and seized documents. According to a representative of the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 91, they were aware of the increased risk of fire and would make the same decision today due to NATO obligations. Moor fires occur around 50 times a year in the area.

On September 25, 2018, the state chairman of the CDU in Lower Saxony , Bernd Althusmann , suggested that the helpers be awarded a 2018 Moorbrand Medal. This medal would be comparable to the Lower Saxony commemorative medal on the occasion of the forest fire disaster in August 1975 or the Saxon commemorative medal for the Weißwasser forest fire disaster in 1992 . Althusmann promised to support the establishment of such an award in the state government, because it was a "disaster of national importance" because of "the danger, the scope, the duration and the number of helpers involved in the fire fighting". A Moorbrand medal was not donated: In 2019 the state government decided to award a certificate with a letter of thanks. The Ministry of Defense had a coin - a so-called ' Coin ' - "Fire fighting Moorbrand Meppen 2018" made as a thank you, which was awarded for the first time on April 6, 2019 at a village festival in Stavern.

Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) visited Meppen and WTD 91 on September 22, 2018 and apologized for the moor fire on the Bundeswehr premises. The Defense Commissioner of the Bundestag , Hans-Peter Bartels (SPD), saw the development of the fire as an indication of major deficiencies in the equipment of the Bundeswehr. He described the equipment as partially ailing.

armed forces

The deputy head of the defense technology department claimed that a moorland fire could have been expected if the heat had persisted even without rocket fire. He referred to Wikipedia.

consequences

The Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) estimated that around 500,000 tons of CO 2 stored in the ground for millennia were released, which is roughly the amount that 50,000 German citizens cause on average each year. The NABU assumed that the affected area was only five square kilometers.

The Federal Office for Infrastructure, Environmental Protection and Services of the Bundeswehr set up a damage center to which those affected could report until mid-November 2018 about the damage. Over 230 people submitted claims for damages.

40 farmers from the region passed reports on crop failures and other agricultural damage to the responsible rural people .

In previous attempts, NATO ammunition containing uranium may have been used on the premises of WTD 91 . According to the Bundeswehr, the radiation measuring station south should check whether emergency services could have been exposed to radiation. Possible concentrations of the poison mercury from NVA projectiles on the site are also unknown. It was also announced at the beginning of October 2018 that some values ​​from air measurements that the Bundeswehr and the district had cited were actually never measured.

The Ministry of Defense promised to set up more than ten years of monitoring in order to observe habitat types, biotopes and species occurrences and to derive necessary measures in the medium and long term.

The resumption of shooting and blasting operations at the WTD 91 is based on a 5-phase model:

  • Phase 1: laboratory activities
  • Phase 2: Shooting in closed and covered positions (e.g. small caliber stand)
  • Phase 3: Shooting with target areas outside the areas with an increased fire risk (moor) in the core area of ​​the WTD
  • Phase 4: Shooting with target areas outside the areas with increased fire risk (moor) outside the core area of ​​the WTD
    • Phase 4.1: Target areas north of the moor area and south of the so-called line 24,000
    • Phase 4.2: Target areas north of the so-called Line 24,000
  • Phase 5: Unrestricted shooting

Each phase builds on the previous one (s) and is associated with prerequisites that require prior examination and approval.

Phase 1 began on November 26, 2018, and was extended to phases 2 and 3 on February 27, 2019. A further expansion to phase 4 took place on August 26, 2019 (4.1) and April 27, 2020 (4.2). The start of unrestricted shooting operations is not planned before 2021.

Ministry of Defense final report

The final report by the Ministry of Defense shows that material, personnel and organizational deficiencies led to the incident:

“During the comprehensive processing of the peat fire, [...] deficiencies were identified which, among other things, affect material, personnel, organizational and training deficits. In addition, the development of the fire was favored by the concatenation of other circumstances with negative effects, such as the failure of fire extinguishers, freshening winds, wrong assessments. "

- Report of the Federal Ministry of Defense on the peat fire near Meppen, p. 34.

In particular, inadequate and unclear communication within the hierarchy of the Bundeswehr and also in cooperation with civil organizations such as the voluntary fire brigades and the technical relief organization was criticized.

costs

In the final report of the Ministry of Defense, the total costs for fire fighting and damage settlement are estimated at around eight million euros. According to estimates by the Greifswalder Moorzentrum, the follow-up costs could amount to 80 to 120 million euros.

List of costs for payments made by the Bundeswehr by January 15, 2019
Cost type height comment
Compensation to private individuals € 95,997.98 A total of 292 applications since October 1, 2018 at the Bundeswehrdienstleistungszentrum (BwDLZ) Leer and the Federal Office for Infrastructure, Environmental Protection and Services of the Bundeswehr (BAIUDBw)
Claims from agriculture € 240,907.00 registered with the Vereinigung des Emsländischen Landvolkes eV, paid by the BAIUDBw, presumably still increasing due to ongoing assessments
Expert € 45,222.38 publicly appointed, sworn expert for assessments of damage to agriculture on behalf of the Bundeswehr
Administrative assistance THW € 1,344,514.19 Payment was made subject to recovery
Administrative assistance Central Police Directorate Lower Saxony € 60,202.75
Administrative assistance in the district of Emsland € 2,992.85
Administrative assistance for the municipality of Stavern € 2,618.27
Administrative assistance in the district association of water and soil associations € 2,165.30
Administrative assistance from Stadtwerke Meppen € 134.85
Compensation for released greenhouse gas ? Greenhouse gas calculations not yet completed by the Federal Environment Agency and the Thünen Institute
Renaturation ? result from the initiated monitoring program, costs cannot yet be estimated
Bundeswehr effort 2,600,000.00 € Not an exact value, includes around 144,600 hours of work by members of the armed forces, use of the equipment required for fire fighting
External service property management € 883,208.23
Material consumption property management € 728,353.50
Operating materials (primarily diesel) € 481,545.60
Consumables € 415,545.31
Business needs € 324,765.98
Rent, lease (primarily hotel accommodation) € 240,373.56
Rent machines / devices € 107,480.24
Others € 311,094.89
total cost € 7,900,000.00 Costs of the equipment used as well as the goods and services procured, claims for damages made and claims in the context of administrative assistance

gallery

  • Visibility obstructions in Sandkrug, around 80 kilometers away, on September 18, 2018

  • Cloud of smoke on the southwestern bank of the reservoir in Geeste

  • Smoke over the fields on the L 53 in Lathen

  • Smoke over the fields near Lathen

  • Fire caterpillar (on Bundeswehr Day on June 9, 2018)

Web links

Commons : Moorbrand 2018 (Emsland)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Moor fire triggered by shooting tests by Airbus Helicopters . In: Spiegel Online , September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018. 
  2. ^ A b c Tobias Böckermann: Beeck: work up moor fire. 1000 hectares of bog burned up to 60 centimeters deep . In: noz.de . November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ panzerbaer.de: Fire-fighting vehicle (FlKfz) (Bw)
  4. ↑ The caterpillar was defective: soldiers fight fire after a missile test . In: n-tv.de . September 17, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b c Major fire in Meppen: fire departments alerted too late . In: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , September 21, 2018. Accessed October 3, 2018. 
  6. ↑ Moor fire smokes as far as Hamburg . In: Abendblatt.de . September 13, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ Twelve days of continuous use . In: thw.de . September 24, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018.
  8. ↑ a b Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport : Small question for short-term written answer (pdf) In: nilas.niedersachsen.de . October 15, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
  9. ^ A b c d Tobias Böckermann: "Expandable Communication" Moorbrand: District criticizes the Bundeswehr for lack of information . In: noz.de , November 1, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018. 
  10. ↑ Third water pumping line in operation . In: thw.de . September 19, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ a b c Moor fire: More than 500,000 tons of CO2 released at ndr.de on September 17, 2018
  12. ↑ Moor fire near Meppen: What to do in the event of an evacuation? . In: ndr.de , September 21, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018. 
  13. ↑ Pioneers from Husum in Meppen in action . In: ndr.de , September 21, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018. 
  14. ↑ Moorbrand: Is ammunition a danger for emergency services? . In: ndr.de . September 19, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  15. ↑ Transport aircraft and tornadoes against peat fire . In: sueddeutsche.de , September 22, 2018. Accessed August 19, 2020. 
  16. ↑ a b Moorbrand: Von der Leyen apologizes again . In: ndr.de . September 22, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  17. ↑ Disaster repealed . In: www.sueddeutsche.de , September 27, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018. 
  18. ↑ Sebastian Grünberg: Now it's up to us again . In: www.iud.bundeswehr.de , October 4, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  19. ↑ Bundeswehr gives the all-clear: Moor fire near Meppen has been extinguished . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , October 10, 2018. 
  20. ↑ Federal Ministry of Defense: Info flyer Moorbrand # 20 (pdf) October 10, 2018. Accessed October 10, 2018.
  21. ↑ Federal Ministry of Defense: Info flyer Moorbrand # 24 (pdf) October 26, 2018. Accessed October 29, 2018.
  22. ^ A b Tobias Böckermann: Moor fire near Meppen: Bundeswehr has the situation under control . In: noz.de , September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018. 
  23. ↑ Julia Mausch: 1100 police officers at Moorbrand in Meppen . In: noz.de , October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018. 
  24. ↑ 200,000 hours of action against the moor fire . In: thw.de , November 6, 2018. Accessed December 3, 2018. 
  25. ^ Daniel Gonzalez-Tepper: THW draws balance after Moorbrand operation: 93,000 working hours, 1900 helpers . In: noz.de , October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  26. ↑ Thanks to the emergency services at Meppener Moorbrand . In: lfv-nds.de , September 25, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018. 
  27. ^ Christian Ahlers: Moor fire near Meppen. Crisis management of the Bundeswehr under fire . In: nwzonline.de , September 20, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 201. 
  28. ^ Daniel Gonzalez-Tepper: Moorbrand: Thank you initiative is supported nationwide . In: noz.de , September 21, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018. 
  29. ^ Gerhard Rieken: The fundraising campaign at Moorbrand in Stavern has ended . In: noz. , November 25, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018. 
  30. ↑ Yasemin Fusco, Karola Meyer-Schilf: Successful use inside . In: taz Nord , September 20, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  31. ↑ Peter Mlodoch: Moorbrand: Embers in the Groko . In: weser-kurier.de , September 27, 2018. Accessed October 29, 2018. 
  32. ↑ Moorbrand becomes a case for the judiciary . In: ndr.de . Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  33. ↑ Yasemin Fusco: Bundeswehr torches Moor . In: taz .de , September 13, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  34. ↑ a b Althusmann wants to award helpers with the 2018 Moorbrand Medal . In: cdu-niedersachsen.de . September 5, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  35. ^ Klaus Wieschemeyer: Certificate instead of medal for helpers . March 16, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  36. ↑ With thanks and apologies - enthusiasm at the village festival in Stavern . April 6, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  37. ↑ Von der Leyen apologizes after Moorbrand . In: tagesspiegel.de , September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 
  38. ↑ Bundeswehr refers to "representation": current regulation at the top of WTD 91 unclear. Retrieved June 13, 2020 .
  39. ^ Moorbrand: Von der Leyen apologizes again . In: Norddeutscher Rundfunk , September 22, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  40. ↑ Moor fire releases up to 1.4 million tons of CO2 . In: Spiegel-Online , September 21, 2018. Accessed September 23, 2018.
  41. ↑ a b Moorbrand already costs the Bundeswehr 103,000 euros . In: ndr.de , November 13, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018. 
  42. ↑ Moor fire: radioactive radiation released? . In: ndr.de , October 5, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018. 
  43. ↑ Round table on the moor fire in the Emsland | Nds. Ministry of the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection. Retrieved February 3, 2019 .
  44. ^ Jörg Jankowsky: Moorbrand in Meppen - One year later. Bundeswehr , accessed on June 29, 2020 .
  45. ↑ Tobias Böckermann: After the moor fire: WTD 91 is allowed to expand shooting attempts. In: New Osnabrück Newspaper . April 30, 2020, accessed June 29, 2020 .
  46. ↑ a b Report of the Federal Ministry of Defense on the peat fire near Meppen. January 24, 2019, accessed February 3, 2019 .
  47. ↑ a b Meppener Moorbrand: Too many mistakes, too little communication. In: tagesschau.de. January 29, 2019, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  48. ↑ Moor fire: up to 120 million euros in damage? . In: ndr.de , October 2, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2018. 

Coordinates: 52 ° 47 '12.1 "  N , 7 ° 23' 31.2"  E