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The fire at a metallurgical company in Marienfelde will likely keep Berlin firefighters busy until Friday night. Although the flames have been out since around 11.30 am, emergency services are still in place to control the embers and follow up on the complicated operation.
For example, the extinguishing water was contaminated by toxic substances and had to be pumped from a specially configured holding container, said a spokeswoman for the Tagesspiegel fire brigade. The hoses also need to be specially cleaned and the clothes of the emergency services are locked.
For the fire brigade, the Motzener Strasse fire was an absolutely exceptional situation. “It is a very dangerous mission, many dangerous substances are stored here,” said a spokesman for the dpa news agency. Acids and alkalis were filtered according to the information.
Some of the firefighters had to wear special protective suits. Using tall ladders and articulated masts, water hoses were routed over the roof to the vicinity of the flames, the spokesman said. Drones were also used. The factory is a so-called accidental operation with hazardous substances.
An employee of a power supply company was slightly injured while working at the site, according to the fire department. The cause of the fire was initially unclear.
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The fire department had asked residents to keep windows and doors closed and to turn off the air conditioning. A radius of about three kilometers around Motzener Straße was affected.
According to initial findings, the resulting smoke was not dangerous to health. Off-site, the fire brigade’s measurement vehicles did not register any increase in the levels of pollutants in the air. At around 11:30 a.m., firefighters raised the air alert for the neighborhood.
Up to 170 firefighters were on duty at the same time during the night. The company the fire broke out in is a surface finishing company, said a spokesman for the Tagesspiegel fire department.
“The fire went from one chemical bath to another,” the spokesman said. Emergency services tried in very dangerous conditions to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas, the fire department wrote on Twitter.
Up to 3,000 of the 5,000-square-meter room caught fire, he said. A cloud of pollutants had escaped from the room and measurements were taken overnight to determine how toxic this cloud was.
There is a pungent smell in the air, said a dpa photographer who was there. On Twitter, residents reported a large cloud of smoke and flames one meter high.
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. (with dpa)
