A fourth victim has been found in the fire in an apartment building in Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous other people were injured. Some people jumped out of a window to escape the flames.
The fire department had already discovered three dead people in the attic of the apartment building that morning – including two adults and a child. Late in the afternoon, the sad certainty came: the missing infant was also dead.
The police have now confirmed that it was a family who lived in the attic of the apartment building.
Difficult use
Various sniffer and rescue dogs were used to search for the missing people. A special vehicle from Haan also had to arrive so that the rescue workers could get into the house via the roof.
A total of 21 people were injured, nine of them seriously. They were taken to nearby hospitals.
Major alarm triggered: human lives in danger
Fire brigade and rescue services in front of the house in Solingen
Shortly before three in the morning, the fire brigade was there because of a fire on Grünewalder Strasse Solingen-Höhscheid has been alerted. Due to the numerous emergency calls that temporarily occupied all emergency call lines, a major alarm was immediately triggered.
Residents jump out of windows
According to the fire department, the fire was already well developed when they arrived, so it was probably discovered relatively late. This led to people jumping out of windows in their distress to save themselves from the flames. Although the fire department had positioned jump pads, one person landed on a car roof and was seriously injured.
100 year old house
The apartment building is around 100 years old, with wooden ceilings and a wooden staircase. The fire was able to spread very quickly there. The fire department suspects the source of the fire to be on the first floor of the house.
When we arrived, the wooden staircase was fully ablaze and red-hot. The escape route was completely burned away.
Gottfried Kreuzberg, operations manager for the Solingen fire department
Pastor on duty
People often come to the emergency services to find out how their relatives are doing. Emergency pastors are on duty. After the tragic fire, Solingen’s mayor Tim Kurzbach ordered mourning flags for the city’s town hall.
I can hardly express how sad I am today, especially when I think about the children. They had their whole lives ahead of them, and today it ended far too soon.
Tim Kurzbach, Mayor of Solingen
Cause of fire unclear
The fire department was on site with a total of around 120 emergency services. The fire has now been extinguished. The four-story house was massively destroyed and the stairwell partially collapsed, according to the fire department. The cause of the fire is still unclear. The fire house and the buildings next to it are currently not habitable.
To support the investigative work, a corpse detection dog and an arson detection dog were deployed. The public prosecutor’s office and the police have started investigations to clarify the cause of the fire and the background. As standard, the homicide squad was also called in.
The smoke was also noticeable in other parts of the city, but the fire department ruled out a health risk.
Our sources:
- Wuppertal fire department
- Reporter on site
We report on the topic in the local time Bergisches Land am 25.3.2024