A61 highway forest fire near Schifferstadt extinguished

A forest fire broke out on the A61 near Schifferstadt, Germany, after a truck tire burst and flaming debris landed in a nearby woodland. The blaze affected roughly 50,000 m² of forest.

Firefighters faced limited water supplies and had to shuttle tankers back and forth to keep the hoses refilled. The fire was fully extinguished later in the day, and the highway was reopened for traffic in the evening. The incident had caused a full closure of the A61 between Schifferstadt and the Speyer interchange while smoke and flames were present.

Police and fire services reported that the tire’s internal steel carcass ignited after the rupture, propelling burning fragments into the forest, which complicated the suppression effort.