Firefighters are battling a blazing wildfire that set off Second World War ammunition buried in the area.
The crews are having to take extra precaution as they attempt to combat the flames in Berlin. The fire, which was the size of 500 football pitches forced the evacuation of several nearby villages.
The fire caused several detonations of old ammunition buried in forests as well as sending out plumes of acrid smoke above the German capital.
Local Lawmaker Christian Stein, said: "The ammunition is very dangerous, because one cannot step on the ground, and therefore one cannot get close to the fire," Brandenburg state’s governor Dietmar Woidke said.
The fire started on Thursday afternoon and spread quickly through the dry pine forests in the Treuenbrietzen region, 30 miles outside Berlin in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
By evening, authorities had evacuated 500 people from the villages of Frohnsdorf, Klausdorf and Tiefenbrunnen.
"Something like that, we didn’t even experience during the war," 76-year-old Anita Biedermann said as police told her to grab her jacket, ID and medication from her home before taking her to a nearby gym for the night.
Firefighters were trying to douse the flames in areas they could not enter with water-bearing helicopters and water cannons.
"The fire continues to be a big threat," Mr Woidke said. "But we will do everything to protect people’s property."
Overnight, winds blew the smoke to Berlin, where people in some neighbourhoods were told to keep their windows closed. In some cases the smell of smoke was so strong that residents called emergency services.
More than 600 firefighters and soldiers were brought in to battle the wildfire, cutting trees to make long firebreaks. Several roads were closed and local trains halted service in the area close to the fire.
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