Firefighters make progress with forest fire outside Berlin

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Firefighters battle a wildfire near the village Klausdorf, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) south of Berlin on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)

Associated Press
BERLIN

German authorities say they’re making progress fighting a major forest fire some 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside Berlin, but an area around two evacuated villages remains a source of concern.

The blaze near the town of Treuenbrietzen started Thursday afternoon and spread quickly through bone-dry pine forests. It has at times sent smoke toward the German capital.

A senior local official in Potsdam-Mittelmark county, Christian Stein, said Saturday that “we managed during the night to get a grip on the fire,” with some large areas extinguished. But he said that, around the villages of Klausdorf and Tiefenbrunnen, the blaze is still flaring up.

Inhabitants were allowed Friday to return to a third village, Frohnsdorf.

Firefighters have to maneuver carefully because old World War II ammunition is still buried in the region.

A police water cannon sprays water into a forest near Treuenbrietzen, south of Berlin, Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 after a trees on an area of several hundred soccer fields caught fire. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)