fire in Essen
Apartment complex fire spread from balcony – fueled by storm Antonia
Major alarm for the emergency services in Essen on Monday night. A massive fire broke out in a block of flats in the North Rhine-Westphalian city. The fire spread rapidly, says fire department spokesman Christoph Risse. “Well, extinguishing work is still going on here at the moment, the flames keep flaring up in one or the other apartment. The difficulty is that we can only fight the fire from the outside and have not yet been able to partially penetrate the apartment. That’s why we have to take further measures here and then check the apartment later on.” – CUT – “Fortunately, we only have three injuries to complain about. They were transported to a hospital with smoke inhalation. We are cautiously optimistic here because we have not yet been able to check all the apartments and it is not yet finally clear whether everyone really is leaving the building could.” Several streets around the site in Essen’s west district were closed. To protect the population, an alarm was also activated via the NINA warning app.
At least three people were injured in a major fire in a residential complex in downtown Essen on Monday night. According to initial findings, a fire broke out on a balcony.
The fire in a residential complex in Essen has spread from a balcony. As the fire brigade announced on Monday, the storm “Antonia” that raged during the night obviously ensured that the fire then spread rapidly across the facade and balconies that were in the wind. The building with a façade length of around 65 meters and four and a half floors is equipped with a thermal insulation composite façade.
The inferno from Bargmannstraße – this is how the flames raged in downtown Essen
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Essen: Storm “Antonia” accelerated the spread of the fire
The storm continued to accelerate the fire. The flames finally penetrated the apartments through shattered window panes and destroyed “everything” in them. According to the fire brigade, the heat even caused damage to buildings 15 meters away: the heat radiation caused roller shutters to melt and windows to burst.
An entire block of flats has been on fire in Essen’s west district since early Monday morning
© Stephan Witte / KDF-TV / DPA
According to reports, the fire was only under control in the morning hours. In the afternoon, extinguishing work was carried out, and fire investigators from the criminal police were also on site. Statements on the extent of the damage and even more on the cause of the fire are not yet possible, since the fire experts are not yet able to enter the building, according to a fire department spokesman.
Building in danger of collapsing after fire
According to statisticians, “large parts of the block of flats” are in danger of collapsing. It was therefore initially unclear whether and when the building could be entered again. The apartments would be checked further. According to the city, 35 units in the new building, which was only a few years old, burned down completely in the complex with 39 apartments. More than 100 residents were affected by the fire. According to the fire brigade, more than 150 emergency services were on site at the top. Three people were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
Alarm raised at 2.15am
According to the fire brigade, the alarm was triggered at 2:15 a.m. on Monday night. “All available forces have been alerted”. According to a spokesman, the hospitals were prepared for a possible mass casualty incident. Because of the smoke, the Essen fire brigade asked residents to close windows and doors. Two roads were completely closed. There were some power outages in neighboring houses. The residents of the block of flats were brought to safety by firefighters. According to the city of Essen, 128 affected residents were cared for in a care center in the lecture hall center of the University of Duisburg-Essen. Medicines, toiletries and clothing would be provided. The city administration also set up a citizens’ hotline.