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Konstanz Fire Update

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THURSDAY WE REPORTED ON A TENACIOUS FIRE in the historic center of Konstanz, Germany, near the Swiss border that destroyed at least one building that was more than 500 years old.  (See the Firegeezer REPORT HERE that includes a dramatic sequence of collapse photos.)  Our friends at FWnetz, the leading fire/rescue news site in Germany, have passed along an update.

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 family of 5.  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 (outlook) because of the risk of collapse.

photo by Schutzbach

DPA (German Press Association) is reporting today that the fire may have started from a burning advent wreath on the third floor, and three more homes have been heavily damaged.

Sud Kurier is reporting that when the fire was beginning, a street-cleaning crew spotted an 84-yr.-old man standing in the ground-floor with his hair on fire.  They ran into the building to take him out, saving the shocked man’s life.  He is hospitalized with burn injuries.  Firefighters rescued a 73-yr.-old woman from one of the upper floors by taking her out a window.  She was transported and treated for smoke inhalation.   All the other occupants apparently escaped safely.  The same link to Sud Kurier also takes you to five photo galleries with more than 200 pics.

Fire crews are expected to remain on the scene through Saturday at least.

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Posted by on December 24, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Special Operations • Tagged: ,

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  • W Mcl

    The Südkurier has a ticker about the envents:
    http://www.suedkurier.de/region/kreis-konstanz/konstanz/Brandkatastrophe-Feuerwehr-noch-immer-im-Einsatz;art372448,4643888

    The latest updates are from Friday, December 24. I translated the last 2 updates:

    11:00 AM:
    The fire department is still busy battling the fire: In one house, which is endangered by collapse, the fire could not yet be taken out completely. According to the police, the operations will have to continue for the whole weekend. So far there are no new findings on the cause of the fire.

    08:00 AM:
    Later today structural engineers will assess the buildings for need of stabilization. According to the fire department, the THW already prepared shorings for that purpose during the early morning. A final clarification of the fire’s cause is still pending. According to early findings and advent wreath, which had been suspended from a ceiling joist inside one of the buildings’ stairwell has fallen down. Final results will be provided after investigators will be allowed to enter the ruins when the fire opearions have ended.

  • W Mcl

    Oops, it appears like I made some typos. If you find them, you may keep them as a finder’s reward.