Skip to content

Downtown Fire in German Medieval Village

4 comments

A MAJOR FIRE THAT THREATENED to devastate the town center of Konstanz, Germany, was contained Thursday morning when over 250 fire and rescue workers swarmed onto  the scene.  The fire started in mid-morning after the city streets had been closed to vehicles for the day when they are made a pedestrian shopping district.

Stuttgarter-Zeitung

The building where the fire started is a 4-story structure that is more than 500 years old and housed a shoe store on the ground floor with apartments on the 3 stories overhead.

The blaze got up into the roof area early and the roof collapsed during the early part of the operations.  The fire was starting to spread when additional help began arriving from other towns including a 40-man force of firefighters from Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.  They managed to contain the fire to the area, but the original site was lost, collapsing into the street, and three other buildings suffered lesser fire damage.  Oliver Hanser, a photographer for Sud Kurier caught the entire collapse:

View the entire 21-image sequence of the collapse HERE.

Two elderly residents suffered minor burns, but no other injuries have been reported.  It is estimated that the fire loss will be over 5 million Euros.  So far, it is not yet known what started the fire.

This brief home video shows some of the fire:

 

Konstanz is an ancient village (now a city, pop. 80,000) on the shore of Lake Contance not far from the Swiss border.  It is popular with tourists because of its narrow, cobblestone streets, 500+ yr.-old buildings and elaborate murals painted on the exterior walls of the houses.

Feuerwehr Netz has more plus additional links and video HERE.

Stuttgarter-Zeitung

Thanks to Christian Lewalter.

Note:  This story has been updated on Friday.  CLICK HERE for additional news.

Also on FireGeezer…

Posted by on December 23, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged:
  • Anonymous

    Thanks.  I will correct it.
    FG

    ________________________________

  • galaxyquest

    There is one little mistake: Constance is a city not a village and also the biggest city at Lake Constance (inhabitants 80,000+). The FD is about 250 FF strong and is organized in 7 truck companies. I was on the scene until 1 p.m..

    Thanks for the correction. I have made the changes.
    Firegeezer

  • Sc

    Some additional information: The fire is still burning. The THW – a special civil protection unit – is stabilizing neighboring houses because of the risk of collapse. Therefore the fire brigade is not able to put the fire out. Officials say the operation will take a couple of days. 20 people lost their home, including a 5-headed family. Today it is snowing. The weather forecast says there will be 20 to 30 centimeters (=up to one foot) of snow this night – not a good perspective because of the risc of collapse.

  • Pingback: Konstanz Fire Update | Firegeezer