A forest fire broke out on Saturday below the summit of Mount Brocken, the highest peak in northern Germany, prompting an evacuation of hikers and other excursionists.
The 1,141-metre-high Brocken sits in the Harz mountain range. A hotel and a station belonging to the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways system are located at the summit.
Heavy smoke prompted the evacuation, which was being carried out with buses and was expected to last into the evening, a spokeswoman for the nearby town of Wernigerode said.
The fire is not yet under control, the town said on Saturday evening. The fire department has struggled with the terrain and not all of the planned forces have convened on the site yet.
Currently, a firefighting helicopter from the police force of the state of Saxony-Anhalt is on site. Two other helicopters from Lower Saxony and the federal police have been requested, said Wernigerode spokeswoman Ariane Hofmann.
Information about the size of the fire is not yet available, she said.
The fast-spreading blaze had been discovered at about 2:30 pm (1230 GMT) on Saturday on the path known as the Goetheweg, or Goethe Way, near a lookout point, a police spokesman said. The Goethe Way to the Brocken is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park.
