According to the fire brigade, water damage at the Munich company Giesecke & Devrient caused millions in damage early on Sunday morning. At the headquarters of the group for security technology on Riedenburger Straße in Munich-Steinhausen, security personnel discovered uncontrolled water leakage from the ceiling during the night as well as wet floors and stairwells.
The staff immediately alerted the fire brigade because of the highly sensitive machines in the building, they reported. Together they found a leaking water pipe on the fourth floor and closed it after a while. Because of the quick alarm, 70 emergency services from the professional fire brigade and volunteer fire brigade could have prevented even greater damage. Machines were secured with tarpaulins. About ten suction cups took up the water over an area of several 10,000 square meters, from the fourth floor down to the basement.
Some of the firefighters were replaced during the almost six-hour operation, and an operations center was set up to coordinate the operation in consultation with those responsible at Giesecke & Devrient. According to the professional fire brigade, the damage cannot yet be quantified more precisely, but “it will clearly be in the seven-digit range”.