For the experienced city fire inspector harald albert, it was quickly clear: "the roof truss is going through us. At the moment i don't see any chance to hold it, although we have started an internal attack." he had just learned from workmen that there were no fire walls on the top floor of the block once used by u.S. Families.
Operations manager albert had not exchanged. The entire floor has been consumed by flames over a length of an estimated 80 meters. Even the more than 100 rescuers from the town's fire brigade, from garitz, hausen, winkels, arnshausen and reiterswiesen, who arrived with numerous vehicles, were unable to prevent this. The two swivel ladders from bad kissingen were also involved.
Styrofoam ignited
It was feared that there may have been gas cylinders on site. This meant a high risk of explosion. Shortly after 4 p.M. Black smoke was billowing from an upper floor. Holger leuke and his colleagues had finished the dry construction work there: "we have just finished – and now it's on fire", he said.
He had an immediate suspicion: skilled workers from a roofing company had laid float tracks on dormers. It is possible that the dam material – styrofoam – had ignited, and "when that starts happening…", leuke said. A roofer had worked there. When he was finished, he noticed smoke. Then he "made sure that the people are out", he said. Presumably this is why there were no injuries or deaths.
100.000 to 200.000 euro?
The bad kissingen fire brigade was quickly on the scene. At a cost of 16.26 o'clock albert "wasser masch!" orders. His colleagues were unable to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring rooms, although they fought the fire professionally from two sides and with numerous pipes.
The amount of damage is considerable and is probably well into six figures: an expert has cautiously estimated 100,000 to 200,000 euros. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The schweinfurt criminal investigation department began investigating the incident that same evening.
Mayor kay blankenburg (SPD) went to the site to see the situation for himself. He was relieved that people had not been harmed and that the firefighters had not been injured. The mayor was impressed by "how quickly our small town can get more than 100 rescuers on their feet".
The red cross rushed to the scene with 20 members, including emergency doctor ralph brath, and seven vehicles. Head of operations here was klaus zehe. The team did not have to intervene. Due to the strong smoke development, the police warned direct residents to keep their windows and doors closed as a precautionary measure.