B 194 - 2026

Report

On Thursday afternoon, the fire departments from Winnweiler, Imsbach, Falkenstein, Lohnsfeld, Münchweiler, and Steinbach were called to a brush fire on the outskirts of Winnweiler. The Enkenbach-Alsenborn Fire Department was also called in to provide support with its tanker truck.

The plume of smoke was already visible on the way to the scene. When the TLF 4000 arrived, it became clear that the fire was burning on a property located between a residential area and the edge of the forest, which contained an agricultural shed as well as numerous round bales and vegetation. The fire spread rapidly and threatened to spread to the adjacent wooded area. The arriving tanker trucks therefore initially attempted to stop the spread from both flanks. At the same time, ground crews also began fighting the fire.

While the initial firefighting efforts were underway, a water intake point was set up on the nearest street. There, the tanker trucks were able to refill their water tanks and, as the operation continued, shuttle back and forth to supply the water supply roll-off container (10,000 liters), which served as a water buffer at the scene.

Although the fire was brought under control after about half an hour, the mop-up operations proved to be very extensive. In the meantime, a firefighter from an excavator company set out to bring a small excavator to the scene to pull apart the burning material. This made it possible to subsequently demolish the shed and pull apart the round bales. The efforts were also supported by personnel using manure forks. As a result, the burning material could finally be thoroughly extinguished using a wetting agent. In addition, several burned trees were felled. The drone unit supported the mop-up operations with a thermal imaging camera from the air, allowing remaining pockets of embers to be extinguished with precision.

Since the fire had produced a massive amount of smoke, which had spread in the direction of residential areas, among other places, a Winnweiler fire department vehicle equipped with a public address system was deployed to inform the affected residents. Residents were advised to keep their windows and doors closed. In addition, measurements were taken in buildings with open windows—with the residents’ consent—to rule out critical carbon monoxide concentrations.

Toward the end of the mop-up operations, the Gonbach unit was called in to provide a fire watch. The firefighters remained at the scene until around 11:00 p.m., checked the area several times with a thermal imaging camera, and doused the affected area with water again to prevent the fire from reigniting.