The fire on the Lüneburg Heath was a major forest fire in 1975 on the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany, with various points of origin near Gifhorn, Eschede and Meinersen. To this day, it is the largest known forest fire in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Causes
The fire was aided by a long period of drought with hot summer weather and dried-out coniferous 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 over the unmetalled forest and heath tracks. Assisted by the monoculture of the area with its uniform stands of pines, 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.
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 quickly spread and jumped across the Elbe Lateral Canal. In addition to the forest and bog fires between Stüde and Neudorf-Platendorf further fires broke out in the next few days in the districts of Gifhorn and Celle in the area of the Südheide Nature Park, 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/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 of the Volunteer Fire Service was cut off. Five firefighters from Fallersleben and Hohenhameln 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 (Lüchow-Dannenberg), 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 were deployed. Other authorities such as the police, Bundesgrenzschutz, customs, Technisches Hilfswerk and Forestry Commission as well as aid organisations like the German Red Cross, 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 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 firebreaks. 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 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. 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.