According to the police, charcoal that had not yet cooled down caused the devastating fire that destroyed five houses in Hofkirchen near Passau in Lower Bavaria. A resident disposed of them in a garbage can in a garage and thereby started the fire, a police spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The man has already been questioned. There is no evidence that he started the fire intentionally. However, the investigations have not yet been completed.
The fire spread from the garage to five apartment buildings early in the morning on Easter Monday and destroyed them. Another property was damaged. The residents were able to get to safety. Nobody got hurt. The day after, some residents reported how they were woken up by the noise and fire sirens. More than 200 emergency services fought the flames for hours – including the Hofkirchen fire brigade commander, Julian Binder, whose father lived in one of the houses.
He said he only saw that he was affected when he arrived with the fire truck. “At first I was shocked, but at the same time I was happy that he was already out of the house.” All residents were already standing outside when the fire department arrived. His father lost everything, Binder continued. But when you see what happened, it is fortunate that there was no material damage.
According to initial police estimates, this is more than one million euros. The five houses are no longer habitable. One has already had to be demolished. The district office imposed a ban on the others. According to Binder, the residents are staying in an inn for the next few days. The municipality will see how it can help people and organize accommodation, said Mayor Josef Kufner (CSU). Of course, our thoughts are now with those affected, he said. The municipality currently assumes that ten residents are affected.