Brand New Fire Station That Had no Fire Alarms Destroyed by Fire in Germany

A brand-new fire station and nearly a dozen fire engines have been destroyed in a massive blaze in Germany, with local reports stating the facility didn’t have a fire alarm or sprinklers installed.

The fire station in Stadtallendorf, Hessen, central Germany burnt down in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A new building that was only officially opened less than a year ago, the destruction of the structure and the 10 fire engines inside is estimated to mount up to a loss of up to €24 million ($26m).

Among vehicles lost was a brand new “disaster relief logistics vehicle… can be used in forest fires, flood situations, evacuations or as a logistical means of transport.”

Hessen state criminal investigation officers are on site attempting to determine the exact circumstances that led to the fire beginning, with a reported expected next week. In the interim, reports in German media cite police sources who say the fire possibly started on one of the vehicles in the building, and possibly that a battery charger may have been involved.

While the first duty of a fire brigade is putting out fires, generally a close-second is preventing fires in the first place, with many encouraging public awareness of the importance of smoke alarms in domestic settings. Ironically enough then, this state-of-the-art fire station had no no centrally-connected fire alarm or sprinkler system installed, as these are not required by German law in such buildings, it is stated.

Norbert Fischer, President of the Hesse State Fire Brigade Association specifically spoke to the risk of battery charging in his remarks, reports by Die Welt: “Especially because there is a lot of technology at the fire stations and batteries are being charged, it makes sense to equip them with fire alarm systems”. Nevertheless he questioned whether one would have actually helped in this situation, stating “This fire spread incredibly quickly”.

District fire inspector Lars Schäfer said putting out a fire in a fire station is a worst-nightmare scenario for a firefighter, explaining: “We basically had to put out our own home”.

The building and machines were insured. The Stadtallendorf fire brigade has been able to borrow fire engines from elsewhere to maintain cover locally until it can buy new, and will be housed in its former temporary accommodation they had used before moving into the new purpose built, and now lost, station.