Berlin: Fire in Marienfelde – Burning of chemicals in the factory

Sedan. Dark billows of smoke over Marienfelde: A fire in a metallurgical company will keep Berlin firefighters busy all day. In the early hours of the morning, the extinguishing work was still in full swing, no end in sight, as a fire department spokesman said. More than 100 firefighters are on duty. There are no fire departments injured, but an employee of a power and utility company had sprained his ankle. He was treated by the ambulance service.

The fire brigade issued an official hazard report through warning apps at night. “Residents should keep their windows and doors closed,” urged the fire department in the morning. Air conditioning systems should also be turned off if necessary. A radius of about three kilometers around Motzener Straße is affected. The clouds of smoke over the southern district of Berlin were visible from afar.

Fire in Marienfelde: smoke not dangerous to health

The smoke produced so far is not dangerous to health. “All the measurements of the special vehicles showed that there is no danger,” the fire brigade tweeted in the morning. However, the danger had not yet been averted because the chemical baths at the electroplating factory caught fire. “The fire goes from one chemical bath to another,” the spokesman said. Firefighters are trying to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas in very dangerous conditions, the fire department wrote on Twitter. The use is dangerous because different chemicals react in the room or toxic gases can develop, the spokesman said. In electroplating companies, surfaces are electrochemically coated with metals and refined.

Up to 3,000 of the 5,000-square-meter room caught fire, he said. A cloud of pollutants had escaped from the corridor. The wind was so strong at night that smoke tends to move into uninhabited areas, according to the fire department.

Local residents brought to the hotel during the fire service.

There is a pungent smell in the air, said a dpa photographer who was there. The fire brigade is trying to fight the flames with the help of several revolving ladders. Late at night, the fire department wrote on Twitter that the crisis team and volunteer firefighters were alerted.

The fire brigade was at the top with around 160 employees. The technical aid organization was also on site and was supposed to ensure that contaminated fire fighting water did not leak out of the building. The DRK emergency services treated 50 residents in a residential building in the neighborhood, who were transferred to a hotel. The Johanniter would also support the operation, he said.