On one of the warmest days of the year thus far, three explosions at a bomb disposal site inside one of Berlin's biggest city forests set off a sizable fire.
The Berlin fire brigade and a German news agency said that more than 100 firemen were battling the blaze on Thursday that has consumed 1.5 hectares (or 3.7 acres) of the Grunewald forest in the German capital.
Massive explosions could be heard from a location inside the forest where explosive munitions, fireworks, and vintage World War II ammunition are stored as well as planned explosives as the fire advanced swiftly.
“The situation is dangerous,” Thomas Kirstein from the Berlin fire department told reporters.
“The fire is not under control, the forest is burning uncontrollably.”
The cause of the initial explosions at the ammo dump early on Thursday was unclear, according to Kirstein.
He issued a warning for locals to avoid the woodland.
Due to the continued discovery of explosive ordnance from World War II, authorities in Berlin often conduct bomb disposal operations.
The fire department stated that it had not yet started to systematically put out the forest fire because emergency services had to maintain a distance of one kilometre (more than half a mile) from the flames due to the danger from flying debris and the possibility of subsequent explosions.
To stop the blaze from escalating, firefighters stationed in the vicinity were saturating the forest outside the exclusion zone with water.
Plans are also under way to fly a drone over the ammunition dump to record aerial images in order to better judge the situation.
“The plan is to get a new situation assessment from the blast site – initially from the air,” Kirstein said, adding that fire services hoped to access the area with armoured vehicles later in the day.
The fires needed to be put out, so the city of Berlin requested further assistance, including special forces from the German army.
Special evacuation tanks and water cannon were also scheduled to arrive.
The Avus, one of the city's most crucial motorways, was shut down as a result of the fire, which also temporarily disrupted the commuter train service to Berlin's west.
Homes weren't directly in danger from the flames, but the fire department issued a warning that the fire might spread further because of the dry conditions in the forest and the exceptionally hot weather on Thursday, with temperatures in Berlin expected to reach up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).