The fire on the Lüneburg Heath was a major

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia), dese ...

in 1975 on the southern part of the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...

in north Germany, with various points of origin near

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially import ...

Eschede Eschede () is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Situated approximately 15 km (10 miles) northeast of Celle, Eschede lies at the border of the Südheide Nature Park, a protected area of large forests and heat ...

and

Meinersen Meinersen is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the rivers Oker and Aller, approx. 12 km west of Gifhorn, and 25 km southeast of Celle. The Municipality Meinersen includes the vi ...

. To this day, it is the largest known forest fire in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

Causes

The fire was aided by a long period of

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

with hot summer weather and dried-out

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

forests. Additionally, there was a lot of storm-damaged wood left in the wake of Hurricane Quimburga on 13 November 1972 that had not been cleared. The sources of the fire could only be reached with difficulty by the

fire services A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention an ...

over the unmetalled forest and heath tracks. Assisted by the

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultur ...

of the area with its uniform stands of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

s, the fire was able to spread rapidly and developed into a giant forest fire in parts of the districts of Gifhorn and Celle. The actual cause of the fire was only clarified in a few cases. At one place it was reckoned that the fire was started by sparks from the railway, in other places by carelessness or

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

Chronology of the disaster

On 8 August 1975 a heath fire near the village of Stüde on the Südheide got out of control. The

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

quickly spread and jumped across the

Elbe Lateral Canal The Elbe Lateral Canal (; ), is a long canal in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from the Mittelland Canal near Gifhorn to the Elbe in Artlenburg. It forms an important transport connection between southern and northern Germany, and it provides ...

. In addition to the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

and bog fires between Stüde and Neudorf-Platendorf further fires broke out in the next few days in the districts of

and

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

in the area of the

Südheide Nature Park The Südheide Nature Park ("Southern Heath Nature Park", German: ''Naturpark Südheide'') is a large protected area of forest and heathland in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany. It has been designated as a protected natur ...

, which were only extinguished with difficulty. Plumes of smoke rose up to four kilometres high above the heath. *On the first day of the fire, the 8 August, a fire engine near Neudorf-Platendorf was rolled by the rolling barrage (''Feuerwalze''), two firemen sustaining serious burns. On the same day the Gifhorn district fire chief died of heart failure during a callout. *One of the sources of the fire in Celle district originated on 9 August 1975 at 12:50 hours from a fire in the

Unterlüß Unterlüß is a village and former municipality in the district of Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It became part of the municipality of Südheide on 1 January 2015. It is about 30 km north-east of Celle and 25 km south-west of Uelzen. ...

/Schmarbeck area. *On 10 August at 12:30 hours between Eschede and Oldendorf near the village of Queloh (Eschede municipality) a forest fire was reported. The fire quickly spread through the pine monocultures. *On 10 August a new forest blaze started near Meinersen which spread towards the village. After the fire was halted shortly before the village, the wind suddenly veered and blew the flames in a new direction. As a result, a

water tender A water tender, sometimes known as a water tanker, is a type of firefighting apparatus that specializes in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene.Volunteer Fire Service was cut off. Five firefighters from

Fallersleben Fallersleben is a part (''Ortsteil'') of the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of 11,269 (as of 2010). The village of Fallersleben was first mentioned in 942 under the name of ''Valareslebo''. Fallersleben became a city ...

and

Hohenhameln Hohenhameln is a municipality in the Peine (district), district of Peine, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km southwest of Peine, 15 km northeast of Hildesheim and 25 km southeast of Hanover. Places that bel ...

died in the wall of fire. *On 10 August the Lüneburg ''Regierungspräsident'' declared a state of emergency. *On 12 August 1975 at 11:55 another large fire broke out near

Gorleben Gorleben is a small municipality ('' Gemeinde'') in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony, Germany, a region also known as the Wendland. Gorleben was first recorded as a town by the rulers of ...

(

Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany, which is usually referred to as Hanoverian Wendland (''Hannoversches Wendland'') or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen and Lüneburg and the ...

), that destroyed of forest and farmland by 22:00 hours. This fire was put out by the end of the day, however. *On 17 August 1975 all the fires were finally extinguished. The fire disaster had been in the news and on radio and television across Germany for a week. *On 18 August 1975 the disaster warning was ended.

Fire fighting operation

About 15,000 fire fighters from across Germany fought the fire. A total of 3,800

fire engines A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

were deployed. Other authorities such as the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, ''

Bundesgrenzschutz Bundesgrenzschutz (; abbreviation: BGS; ) is the former name of the German ''Bundespolizei'' (Federal Police). Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BGS originally was primarily focu ...

'',

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

, ''

Technisches Hilfswerk The (, (THW) , English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal Emergency management, civil protection organisation of Germany. It is legally part of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), Federal Ministry of the Inte ...

'' and Forestry Commission as well as aid organisations like the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (GRC) ( ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. During the Nazi era, the German Red Cross was under the control of the Nazi Party and played a role in supporting the regime's policies, including the exclusion ...

, St. John's Ambulance, ''Malteser Hilfsdienst'' and ''Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund'' were engaged in fighting the forest fires in Lower Saxony. But only when around 11,000

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

soldiers with cross-country capable vehicles and heavy clearance equipment (including armoured recovery tanks with dozer blades) were deployed could the fire be contained by the creation of

firebreak A firebreak or double track (also called a fire line, fuel break, fireroad and firetrail in Australia) is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebre ...

s. In addition there were many British troops deployed in particular AVRE's (Assault Vehicles Royal Engineers) from 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron from Hohne garrison. For the first time, three aerial firefighter aircraft of the

Canadair CL-215 The Canadair CL-215 (Scooper) is the first model in a series of amphibious aircraft, amphibious flying boats designed and built by Canada, Canadian aircraft manufacturer Canadair, and later produced by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier. It is o ...

type from France were used in support. These were exclusively used to protect small hamlets and farmsteads in the fire zone. They picked up water from the

Steinhuder Meer Lake Steinhude, , , is a lake in Lower Saxony, Germany located northwest of Hanover. Named after the nearby village of Steinhude, it has an area of about , making it the largest lake of northwestern Germany. At the same time, Lake Steinhude is ...

. Airport fire appliances from the Rhineland were stationed at a Bundeswehr barracks in Wesendorf north of Gifhorn. Firefighting was made more difficult by the weather conditions, the poor going on the tracks and constantly changing winds. The biggest problem however was an acute lack of water to fight the fire. Most of the natural water sources such as ponds, gravel pits or rivers were a long way from the sites of the fire. Water tenders had to travel long distances in order to refill their tanks.

Firefighting from the railway

During the emergency a railway firefighting train was deployed. The Hanover Railway Fire Service had stood by on 12 August 1975 for deployment to the disaster area. Four

tank wagon A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; t ...

s and a

flat wagon Flat wagons (sometimes flat beds, flats or rail flats, US: flatcars), as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck (or 2 decks on car transporters) and little ...

were made available for the firefighting train. Each tanker held 45,000 litres of water. The Hanover Railway Fire Service put out fires by the railway track between Eschede and Garßen. The flat wagon carried the Hanover Fire Service's TLF 16 fire appliance; two tank wagons provided it with water. So that water would be continuously available, the two other tank wagons were also filled with water. Once the diesel locomotive had delivered two full tank wagons, it would then return to Uelzen with the empty ones in order to refill them at the

water crane A water crane is a device used for delivering a large volume of water into the Tank locomotive, tank or Tender locomotive, tender of a steam locomotive. The device is also called a water column in the United States and Australia. As a steam loco ...

there. The deployment of the fire train ended on 16 August 1975. For future incidents the

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

has stationed four water wagons along the railway line from Hanover to Celle.

Consequences

The

destroyed of forest and caused damage assessed at more than 18 million euros. Immediately after the fire the chief executive (''Oberkreisdirektor'') responsible for the district of Celle, who was not felt to have handled the problem well, was replaced. At the site where five firemen died a memorial was erected; it lies in a wooded are east of Meinersen by the B 188 federal road and is signed. It consists of a walled enclosure with a large memorial stone and five smaller ones, symbolising each of the victims. A commemorative medal and certificate was awarded to all those deployed during the fire disaster in August 1975.

Fire service equipment

The fire services have been better equipped since the fire: * They have been given forest firefighting maps to the same standard as those of the Bundeswehr and the forestry commission. * Fire engines have been fitted with all-wheel drive. * Before the disaster, the fire services only had radios with a few channels (SEM 37/47/57), which led to communication problems during the fire. The fire services that had deployed from outside the area only turned up with their own communication channels - and not that of the local area. As a result, several appliances burned because they could not call for assistance. Following this operation the use of multi-channel radios (FuG-7/8) was ordered. * Amongst the improved equipment purchased were 8/18 water tenders with a larger tank (2,400 L), the so-called ''Niedersachsentanker'' or "Lower Saxony tanker". * In addition, command and control vehicles (''Einsatzleitfahrzeuge'') were procured and specialized communication units (''Fernmeldezüge'') established. * Furthermore,

disaster management Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actua ...

was improved, something which turned out to be of benefit at the 1998

Eschede train disaster On 3 June 1998, part of an ICE 1 train on the Hanover–Hamburg railway near Eschede in Lower Saxony, Germany derailed and crashed into an overpass that crossed the railroad, which then collapsed onto the train. 101 people were killed and a ...

Water for firefighting

A consequence of the fire disaster has been that

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially Conflagration, destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, Compartmentalization (fire protection), compartmentalisation, suppression and inve ...

on the Lüneburg Heide, as well as Germany-wide, has been considerably improved. For example, at particularly endangered places when the risk of forest fire is heightened an aerial firefighting service is deployed to provide aerial observation of the

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

, which enables early warning. In order to be better equipped for future forest fires,

metalled A road surface (British English) or pavement (North American English) is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, ho ...

tracks were built for fire engines. At lakes, fish ponds or gravel pits in the area, water take-off points were installed. In particularly endangered areas, special ponds were dug in order to provide rapid and efficient water collection by fire engines. Where there are no rivers for water collection, old heating oil tanks were used as water supply tanks each with between 20,000 and 100,000 litres of water in the ground.

Reforestation

In reforesting the areas destroyed by storm and forest fire, it was initially thought that pine monocultures should be abandoned and more

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

trees (

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

) should be planted. Soil investigations revealed, however, that deciduous trees would only be able to establish in a few places due to the poor sandy soil. The forest fire had also destroyed much of the available humus soil. On the edge of the forests,

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

was planted in places in order to act as fire protection. Otherwise the scorched areas were again uniformly reforested with

Sources

Rudolf Augstein Rudolf Karl Augstein (5 November 1923 – 7 November 2002) was a German journalist, editor, publicist, and politician. He was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of magazine. As a politician, he was a member o ...

(Hrsg.): ''Das große Feuer. Wer hat versagt?'' 1975

External links

NDR report of the forest fire, 1975

Forest fires in August 1975 in Lower Saxony
with numerous photos (pdf; 6.76 MB)
Press reports of the forest fire disaster on the Lüneburg Heath
pdf; 44 kB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fire on the Luneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath 1970s fires in Europe 1975 fires Fires in Germany

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

1975 in West Germany Luneburg Heath, Fire on the 1975 natural disasters Luneburg Heath, Fire on the August 1975 in Europe History of firefighting Firefighting memorials 1975 disasters in Germany