The goal was to reduce the size of the area at risk, officials said, adding that the situation was stable but not yet fully under control.
What's the latest on the fire?
A spokesperson for the fire department said people would start working on the site once it was certain that it was safe. The presence of explosives at the compound meant the operation has been treated with a higher degree of caution than normal.
"We hope to be able to cool down further there with robots and firefighting tanks so that we can then go into the area," the spokesperson told the AFP news agency.
Berlin Fire Brigade spokesman Mario Witt had said on Sunday that the plan was to get closer to the fenced-off blasting site area at the heart of the blaze. Although the main fire is out, many small blazes continued, he said.
According to estimates, the fire department operation will continue for days with firefighters — using high-tech surveillance equipment — looking for still-smoldering embers.
Berlin Grunewald threatened by fire and explosions
Berlin's Grunewald has been shaken by explosions, triggering a fire that threatened to burn out of control. The site: A munitions storage facility in a tinder-dry forest.
Image: Berliner Feuerwehr/picture alliance/dpa
Explosions in a dry forest
A police ammunition dump in a Berlin forest was shaken by explosions Thursday morning. After an especially long dry spell this summer, the forest was bone-dry and immediately caught fire.
Image: Berliner Feuerwehr/dpa/picture alliance
Ammunitions catch fire
Firefighters are still seeking to fully extinguish the blaze at Berlin's city ordnance disposal area this week, days after the fire broke out caused by an explosion at the site. The goal was to reduce the size of the area at risk, officials said, adding that the situation was stable but not yet fully under control. The wind is fanning the flames and spreading debris.
Image: Feuerwehr Berlin/TNN/dpa/picture alliance
Threat of further explosions
According to estimates, the fire department operation will continue for days with firefighters — using high-tech surveillance equipment — looking for still-smoldering embers. An initially affected area of some 1.5 hectares had spread to about 50 hectares (about 123 acres) on Thursday last week before firefighters were even able to get close enough to properly extinguish the fire.
Image: Berliner Feuerwehr
A site with a long history
Since 1950 this area in West Berlin has been used by Berlin's explosive ordnance service to store 25 metric tons of World War II ammunition, confiscated fireworks and other explosive ordnance. Controlled blasts are carried out there
twice a year.
Image: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/dpa
Heavy equipment
Armored vehicles were swiftly sent to the scene to deliver water and remove debris. Authorities are now trying to get a close look at the site itself, with help from robots.
Image: Paul Zinken/dpa/picture alliance
Motorways and trains affected
The Avus highway remains closed off, although the traffic around the area was meant to restart as soon as possible. Thomas Kirstein, the spokesman for the Berlin Fire Department, said "almost everything we have in terms of high-tech equipment in Germany has been deployed to the scene."
Image: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/dpa
Upscale district
The site of the fire is far from the nearest homes and no one had to be evacuated, but
authorities declared a 1,000-meter (more than half-mile) exclusion zone and the nearby AVUS highway and railway line remained closed on Friday.
Authorities react
The cause of the fire remains unclear. Berlin's governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, was quick to visit the scene on Thursday and announced her intention to start talks about a possible relocation of the explosives dump.
Image: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
Too close for comfort
An explosion site in the middle of a popular recreation area — Berliners now realize that poses a problem. But any relocation would be high-risk, as the safe removal and transport of World War II ammunition is next to impossible.
Image: Gerd Roth/dpa/picture alliance
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Fire officials were expected to say later on Monday whether a section of highway known as the AVUS could reopen.
Train services along a stretch of rail, parallel to the road but slightly further from the heart of the fire, started operating again on Saturday.
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What happened at the site?
Berlin's fire department deployed an array of specialized equipment to the forest, where a blaze, thought to have been sparked by an explosion in the early hours of Thursday, ripped through tinder-dry woodland.
An initially affected area of some 1.5 hectares spread to about 50 hectares (about 123 acres) by Thursday evening, before firefighters were able to get close enough to properly extinguish the fire.
The site was set up in Cold War-era West Berlin in 1950; 25 metric tons or more of fireworks, World War II ammunition and other explosive ordnance had been stored there before the fire began.
The 200 by 200 meter compound is used by Berlin's explosive ordnance disposal service to store, defuse and detonate munitions — primarily those still being discovered to this day and dating from World War II. It's also used for the storage and disposal of confiscated fireworks.
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