Firefighters welcome rain in northern Germany amid Harz wildfire

Firefighters expressed hope on Monday morning that overnight rainfall in the Harz mountains of central Germany helped dampen wildfires that have burned for several days.

Crews were preparing to head back onto the Brocken, the tallest mountain in Germany's mostly flat north, to assess the fires after several hours of constant rain, according to Immo Kramer, who is leading the emergency deployment.

"We are going in with personnel to see what effect the rain has had," Kramer told dpa.

The fire broke out on Friday on the Königsberg, a side peak of the Brocken, and had spread over a length of around 1,000 metres.

The fire was fought from the air and on the ground over the entire weekend. On Saturday evening, the emergency services finally succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading further.

The area, normally a popular destination with sightseers from across the region, is currently closed to tourists.

According to district fire chief Kai-Uwe Lohse, further aerial firefighting is unlikely at this point.

The main plan is to extinguish the remaining fire in the area from the ground and search for pockets of embers, Lohse said.

He said around 50 firefighters would be deployed for the effort.