Forest fire

The ignition of the firecrackers is probably the cause beyond question.

— Thorsten Kahl, Oberstaatsanwalt; Koblenzer Public Prosecutor's Office

It needs a climate emergency plan from the federal government now. First and foremost, Friedrich Merz must stop the anti-climate plans of his coalition. CDU and SPD have so far acted as accelerants of the climate crisis. There must be an immediate fundamental shift in the government's course.

— Katharina Dröge, Greens parliamentary group leader, told dpa in Berlin

It's raining in torrents, and that helps us a great deal

— André Wendel of the Rottweil Fire Department, regarding the containment of the forest fire near Schramberg

Almost all forest fires in North Rhine-Westphalia are not caused by lightning strikes, but by careless human behavior.

— Nationalpark Eifel; quoted on the National Park Eifel website

It's simply insane that people are walking around in forests right now. Everyone knows that the fire was caused by some idiot. Some idiot started the fire.

— Herbert Reul, Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia (CDU), on-site in Hürtgenwald; commentary on human-caused fire

We're pulling back.

— Incident commander Philipp Krüger, in a morning interview with dpa

To all volunteers and firefighters across Indonesia: keep up your fighting spirit in the battle against the flames.

— Rudiyansah (17), a volunteer firefighter in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia; his call to fellow volunteers and firefighters.

At 1:30 p.m., the firefighters arrived at the Riedener Waldsee with the sirens blaring; the firefighters jumped out, ran to the lake, and urged people to leave the lake.

— Jürgen Tebbe (from Bonn), describing the evacuation at the Riedener Waldsee, as captured in a private SWR video

The farmers flushed their slurry tanks and filled them with water to help the firefighters extinguish the blaze on the steep slope.

— Reported on-site by WDR reporter Heinz Krischer; the farmers themselves described their actions.

The fire is no longer spreading, but it must now be completely extinguished.

— Markus Fischer, district fire chief for the Aschaffenburg district, said on Saturday evening (August 15, 2026).

The fire is currently outside the extinguishing capacity.

— Antonio Sanz, Andalusian Interior Minister, explaining that the fire is currently outside the extinguishing capacity.

Please refrain from showering, bathing, watering gardens, and other water-intensive activities as much as possible.

— Warning issued by the Main-Kinzig District (Main-Kinzig-Kreis)

In such catastrophes, in his view, entirely new political topics arise that must be tackled.

— Oliver Krischer, NRW Environment Minister (Greens), on-site commenting on the political implications of the disaster