Two major wildfires were raging in western Germany on Friday, hours after a village was evacuated in the dead of night due to a blaze in a forest littered with unexploded ordnance from World War II.
Hundreds of firefighters were tackling the blaze in the Hürtgen forest close to the Belgian border on Friday after the entire community of Gey, home to around 2,300 people, was evacuated overnight.
Authorities said around 300 hectares were ablaze in the Düren district of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. State Agriculture Minister Silke Gorissen called it the largest recorded fire in North Rhine-Westphalia's history.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was being "continuously informed" about developments and thanked emergency services for their efforts. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described images of the blazes as "devastating."
The German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, were also on site with armoured vehicles and firefighting helicopters to support the operation from the air.
While Germany has been largely spared the worst effects of Europe's record-breaking summer of heat, with far fewer blazes than in France or Spain, the fire in the Hürtgen forest threatened to cause a major disaster after shifting winds blew the flames close to residential areas overnight.
The national NINA emergency warning app issued its highest alert level for "extreme danger," with the fire brigade ordering the evacuation at around 4 am (0200 GMT).
District administrator Ralf Nolten said the evacuation proceeded smoothly overnight thanks to cooperation from residents.
"When you've seen the wall of fire - the trees are already quite tall, and then the fire is burning another few metres above the treetops - when you've seen that, then you just leave and you don't start arguing," Nolten explained.
Civil engineer Patrick Koch, 31, witnessed the fire, assisting emergency services by transporting water with his tractor. "It was madness," he said.
The cause of the fire is not known, but police have set up a portal for witnesses to submit tips.
Five injuries have been reported, including an elderly person who suffered heart issues during the evacuation and four emergency responders.
Around 400 personnel from the fire brigade, police and other authorities were on site on Friday afternoon. "'We had to fall back in places to prevent individual units from being surrounded," said Nolten.
The Hürtgen forest has just under 9,000 inhabitants.
The firefighting effort has been complicated by the threat of explosions from historic ammunition left over in the forest from World War II.
The area was the scene of heavy fighting between German and US troops in 1944-45 during the Ardennes counter-offensive, also known as the Battle of the Bulge.
"The site is very difficult to access, and because of the high concentration of ammunition, we cannot send individual firefighters in with firefighting backpacks either," said Nolten. Ammunition was exploding on the site during the night, he added.
Due to the severe drought affecting western Germany and high temperatures amid the latest heatwave, forest fires have broken out in several locations across North Rhine-Westphalia.
Sources told dpa that a crisis meeting with experts took place on Friday morning at the state Agriculture Ministry in Dusseldorf.
According to a district spokesman, four people were injured in a large-scale forest and grassland fire near Langscheid in the Mayen-Koblenz district of the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate. One of the individuals is reported to have suffered burns.
The fire has affected an area of around 50 hectares, the spokesman said. Due to the weather conditions, the fires have been shifting direction repeatedly.
For this reason, the situation must be closely monitored and preparations were being made for possible evacuations. "Local residents have been informed that, should we give the go-ahead, they will be evacuated. At present, however, this is merely a precautionary measure."
According to the spokesman, several hundred emergency personnel are involved in fighting the fire. The initial report was received on Friday morning after a fire was spotted.
Firefighting operations were also under way in the Sauerland region. State Interior Minister Herbert Reul and Agriculture Minister Silke Gorissen urged the public not to enter forests at present.
"Fires can spread extremely quickly and cut off escape routes," they warned.
