Status: 04/10/2023 2:36 p.m
Because of the major fire that broke out on Sunday morning in Billstraße in the Rothenburgsort district, the Hamburg fire brigade is still on site. Several warehouses were on fire. The official warning has been lifted since noon.
The fire in the warehouses in Rothenburgsort has now been largely extinguished. However, the fire brigade forces are still on site to look for individual embers. Hardly anything is left of the approximately 17,000 square meter warehouse complex, most of the buildings have collapsed.
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Official warning has been lifted
The official warning from the interior authority was also lifted on Monday afternoon. The authorities had previously maintained them because of heavy smoke and the resulting odor nuisance. The affected area should be avoided.
On Sunday morning, the fire and the smoke development were initially classified as “extreme danger” in an official warning. The population could be affected “by smoke gases and chemical components in the air we breathe,” it said. The official warning was updated on Sunday afternoon and was only classified as “hazard information”. According to the information, no increased pollutant readings were found in the city area. The interior authority sent the warning messages via the warning apps KATWARN and NINA. The cell broadcast warning system was also triggered.
Debris concealed the source of the fire
An aerial photograph shows the extent of the blaze.
Around 30 firefighters had worked the whole night in shifts. Heavy equipment had to be used because the rubble covered large sources of fire. The fire brigade and the technical relief organization used excavators to clear away large amounts of rubble and thus uncover the remaining sources of the fire – only then could they be extinguished.
Cause of fire and property damage still unclear
How exactly the fire started is still unclear. The fire brigade was called to Billstrasse around 4:40 a.m. on Sunday. First, several cars and washing machines had burned there. Then the fire could spread quickly, apparently because there were problems with the water supply and the wind was unfavorable. Within a very short time, several warehouses were fully engulfed in fire. There were always detonations. There was a huge column of smoke above the site of the fire, clouds of smoke and ash were blown towards the city centre. The firefighters wore respirators because of the heavy smoke. Nobody got hurt. There is no information yet on property damage.
Six fire engines from the professional fire brigade, several volunteer fire brigades, the Technical Relief Agency and the police took part in the firefighting on Sunday – a total of around 220 emergency services. Turntable ladders were also used to extinguish the fire. According to the fire department, a hostel near the scene of the fire was evacuated. 39 people were housed and cared for at the fire academy in Billbrook.
Impact on rail traffic
The Brandststätte is located near the Rothenburgsort S-Bahn station.
The train traffic was affected for hours because of the fire. Deutsche Bahn announced on Sunday morning that the tracks between Hamburg and Büchen had to be closed due to the fire. According to Bahn, IC, EC and ICE trains between Hamburg and Berlin were diverted and delayed by up to 90 minutes. The IC and ICE trains between Hamburg and Rostock were canceled. On Sunday afternoon, the railways reported that train traffic was restarting on the affected routes. However, subsequent delays are to be expected.
S-Bahn services temporarily suspended
Local traffic was also restricted by the fire service. The Hamburg S-Bahn blocked the route between Berliner Tor and Billwerder-Moorfleet for several hours in both directions due to the fire brigade. The road closure was lifted on Sunday afternoon. Early Monday morning, the S-Bahn announced that S-Bahn trains would stop at Rothenburgsort again.
