The first report arrives shortly before seven o’clock. A car driver on the A 8 noticed smoke development on the western outskirts of Ottobrunn. Only a few minutes later the volunteer fire brigades from Ottobrunn and the neighboring community of Taufkirchen are out – and the first impression of the Ottobrunn fire brigade commander Erwin Ettl does not suggest anything good: “Indoor swimming pool on fire!” This is what it says in the mission report that was issued by the volunteer fire brigade exactly 25 years ago after the mission.
The Ottobrunner Phönixbad is now one of the most popular leisure pools in the region – appreciated by families as well as wellness lovers, who are particularly drawn to the spacious sauna area and the spa area. The community swimming pool at Haidgraben was opened in 1976 and for more than 20 years it was a guarantee for relaxed bathing fun – up to that ominous 23 November in 1996.
A total of 181 emergency services were deployed
The fire broke out early that Saturday morning in the restaurant area of the facility, the pizzeria was already ablaze when the fire fighters arrived and the fire spread rapidly to the roof structure of the swimming pool. According to the mission report, the total of 181 emergency services started the “internal attack” via the inner courtyard to the pizzeria, and attempts were also made to fight the fire on the roof structure via the outdoor pool. The outer facade was dismantled from turntable ladders.
When the intensity of the fire subsided, the firefighters were able to get inside the swimming pool, where they expected heavy smoke. “The Ottobrunn comrades breathed empty of 36 breathing apparatus,” says the report from that time. As a result, the focus of operations shifted to the basement, which threatened to fill up with extinguishing water and was pumped out.
Ottobrunn’s second mayor Rudolf Heyd (right) visits the fire ruins.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
In the evening, nests of embers flared up again, but they were successfully fought. The emergency services managed to preserve part of the facility. For example, the club rooms of the swimming club and large parts of the technology in the basement were protected from damage, and the flames were prevented from spreading to the adjacent Ferdinand-Leiß-Halle. Also through the “friendly cooperation between the fire brigades”, as the Ottobrunn fire brigade has documented.
Today the swimming pool shines in a modern splendor and has been repeatedly spruced up and renovated. And after the reconstruction it bears its new name: risen like the phoenix from the ashes.