“I completely underestimated it,” he told Bavarian radio, “this is really embarrassing. You can’t be too careful.”

As if his mistake wasn’t mortifying enough, Mr Brunner had spent much of the summer issuing warnings about the high risk of forest fires in the area.

And to make matters even worse, it transpired that he had broken one of his own laws by burning garden waste on a public holiday.

In Germany, and Bavaria in particular, there are very strict laws about what you can and cannot do on public holidays – and it seems lighting a bonfire in your own garden is one of them.

The fire was detected when a passing motorist saw smoke rising from the wood and called the fire brigade.

By then Mr Brunner had found flames rising from the spot where he dumped the embers and, realising his mistake, he also called the emergency services.

Firefighters said the blaze was not dangerous,. They were able to put it out before it caused substantial damage to the wood, or affected any nearby properties.

As for Mr Brunner, he vowed to Bavarian radio: “Such a thing will never happen to me again.”