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A defective battery from an e-scooter probably caused a fire in a high-rise building in Mindelheim on Tuesday night (December 19th). More than 60 people can no longer return to their homes. 42 of the 67 residents have now been accommodated by relatives. Mindelheim’s city treasurer Michael Schindler told BR today. 25 people had no relatives in the Mindelheim area and therefore had to be accommodated in emergency accommodation by the city.

Five people are slightly injured in the fire

The fire broke out in an apartment on the upper floors and triggered a major operation involving 70 firefighters. Because the stairwell was filled with smoke, residents had to be rescued from the building with a turntable ladder during the evacuation.

Five people were slightly injured in the fire and were initially taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. Everyone has now been released from the hospital. “As if by a Christmas miracle, there were no serious injuries or deaths,” says city treasurer Schindler.

The entire apartment where the fire broke out was in flames, police spokesman Holger Stabik from the Schwaben-Südwest police headquarters in Kempten told BR on Tuesday. According to the current investigation, the cause of the fire was an exploded battery on an e-scooter, the police said in response to a BR query.

Apartments uninhabitable due to smoke and water

The police are currently assuming property damage of several hundred thousand euros. The residents are not yet allowed to return to their apartments. Many people lost everything they owned in the “immense fire,” says city treasurer Schindler. “Many families are affected, some of whom have nothing left. Everything is broken.”

After the fire, 40 of the more than 60 people evacuated were initially accommodated in the Red Cross House in Mindelheim. Many of the residents have now been staying with relatives, reports Mayor Stephan Winter. The city of Mindelheim accommodates everyone else in residential complexes, hotels and a senior center. If you can’t be in your apartment at Christmas, it’s particularly bad, said the mayor. At the same time, he was touched by the willingness to help. People have even called from other counties to offer accommodation for those affected.

Mindelheim’s mayor saw the burning building

Mayor Stephan Winter was on site in the early hours of Tuesday morning and described the fire as a “terrible event”. Because: “The flames came out of the apartment over the balcony. The house was enveloped in smoke. Of course, that also startled the other residents. The stairwell was very heavily smoked,” says the mayor.

The positive thing about the terrible event is that only five people were slightly injured. It was important for those affected by the fire to get their urgently needed personal items from their homes on Tuesday. The residents also had time to do this on Tuesday afternoon.

Residents were able to remove personal belongings from apartments

In addition to food and drinks, psychological support from a crisis intervention team was particularly important for those affected, says Wilhelm Lehner, district manager of the Bavarian Red Cross Unterallgäu. Some of the apartments in the nine-story building were badly damaged by the smoke gases and the water used to extinguish the fire. “The further into the day it becomes, the more it becomes clear and those affected become aware of what this is about. That their living space will not be available in the near future or will only be available in parts,” says Lehner.

Fire investigators and insurance companies assess damage

You can still see broken window panes on the upper floors of the high-rise building and the walls around the apartment that are blackened by soot. The Memmingen criminal police are currently taking over the investigation. A fire investigator from the criminal police is already getting an overview of the house. The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office will support the investigation on Thursday. “The State Criminal Police Office will also appoint a fire investigator. This really only happens in cases of outstanding importance,” says police spokesman Stabik. In addition to the criminal police and the state criminal police office, an insurance expert should also assess the damage. Following the inspection of the high-rise building in Mindelheim, the police want to give a new estimate of the property damage.

2023-12-20 16:27:15
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