Reutlingen
Investigations against resident after fatal fire in nursing home
Police barrier tape at a care facility in Reutlingen. After the fire disaster in a home for mentally ill people, three residents had previously died.
© Christoph Schmidt / DPA
After the deadly fire in a home for the mentally ill in Reutlingen, the search for the cause of the fire continues. A resident is suspected. She is in a hospital with serious injuries.
After the fire in a Reutlingen nursing home with three dead, the investigations are ongoing. The focus is on one of the residents of the social psychiatric facility. The 57-year-old was seriously injured in the fire on Tuesday evening. According to the police, she is being treated in a special clinic. She was suspected because, according to initial investigations, the fire broke out in her upstairs room, it said. The public prosecutor’s office is therefore investigating the woman on suspicion of triple murder and eleven times attempted murder. The suspect is mentally ill and not yet responsive due to her injuries. A possible motive is still unclear.
Three dead after fire
The emergency call reached the fire brigade at 7:43 p.m. on Tuesday evening, and the first fire engines arrived at the scene of the fire six minutes later. For a 53-year-old woman and two men aged 73 and 88, it was already too late. According to the fire department, they inhaled smoke and suffocated. The fire broke out in one of the four residential groups in the home, but by the time the fire brigade arrived it had largely gone out and was limited to one room. “But the condition of the premises indicated a high level of intensity,” says fire brigade operations manager Martin Reicherter. 61 firefighters and around 40 other helpers were deployed. Some of them received psychological care afterwards.
Sadness and shock in Reutlingen
Many people in Reutlingen are also shocked. “The dismay extends far into the citizenry, there are many reactions, the phone doesn’t ring anymore,” said Mayor Thomas Keck. Seven to eight mentally ill people live together in the residential groups of the facility. According to the medical director, it is a facility that provides integration assistance for people over 50 years of age. They live there for a longer period of time, but according to the city they are comparatively independent.