In the late evening there was certainty. The two missing firefighters are dead. They were found after hours of searching in the completely destroyed building. When the hearse left the scene of the accident with the dead, many of their comrades lined up to say goodbye. How exactly the tragic accident could have happened is still unclear. Mayor Max Leitterstorf had already said on Sunday afternoon: “We have to expect the worst. It’s probably the darkest day in the history of the Sankt Augustin volunteer fire brigade.”
They are experienced firefighters, a man and a woman. As far as possible, he spoke to the relatives and the Niederpleis fire brigade unit, in which the two were active, and broke the news, the mayor continued.
Our WDR reporter on site reports that individual emergency services received psychological support shortly after the start of the operation. After the incident, the entire Sankt Augustin volunteer fire department was put out of service, the city said. Firefighters from other municipalities would have taken over the extinguishing work.
NRW Minister of the Interior Reul speaks of an almost incomprehensible misfortune
NRW Interior Minister Reul called the accident “terrible” and “hardly understandable”. He thinks it’s right that the firefighters from Sankt Augustin were withdrawn from fighting the fire. In the WDR interview on site, Reul said: “I don’t think that’s possible if they themselves miss their two colleagues.” The CDU politician called the psychosocial support for the emergency services highly professional.