Klooga marsh fire probably caused by shooting exercise

Photo: Andres Haabu / Postimees

The marshland fire at Klooga that had spread over an area as large as 145 hectares by Thursday evening probably got its start from an exercise in machine-gun shooting conducted by the defense forces.

«Yesterday, at approximately 11:40 a fire was detected about 300 meters from the place where the shooting took place, after which the shooting was halted and, in accordance with procedures and safety rules, members of the defense forces were dispatched to put out the fire,» Lt. Col. Aron Kalmus, commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, told the news portal of the public broadcaster ERR.

The officer explained that since there had been some rainfall the previous night neither the party that conducted the shootings nor the party responsible for the training ground considered the risk of fire to be big. It is believed that the fire got its start as a result of the shooting, apparently through wild heather catching fire. «The appraisal of fire hazard perhaps wasn't the most adequate. True, there had been rain but the wind and yesterday's relatively hot weather undermined the effect from the rain,» Kalmus said.

The rescue center was alerted about the marsh fire at Klooga about 40 kilometers to the west of Tallinn at 11:51 a.m. Thursday. The hot weather and the fact that the fire was ravishing areas difficult to access caused a spread of the affected area and an observation flight with a helicopter of the Police and Border Guard Board at 8:30 p.m. revealed that 145 hectares or marsh and young growth of forest was burning, the officer on duty at the Rescue Board told BNS Friday morning.

The heavy rain that started late in the evening and lasted through the night is estimated to have put out the flames in most areas. Rescuers were set to conduct an observation Friday morning to decide about the necessity of further action to put out the fire, the officer on duty added.