After a major fire in Hamburg with a huge cloud of smoke over the city center, the police cautiously gave the all-clear. The official warning has not yet been lifted, but “no elevated readings are currently being detected,” the police situation center said at noon today. The fire broke out in a warehouse in the morning and spread to other halls.
At first there was talk of “extreme danger”.
This resulted in a huge cloud of smoke, which drifted towards the city center due to the north-easterly wind and has now largely dissipated. According to initial findings, no one was injured. However, the fire brigade warned of the smoke and asked residents to keep windows and doors closed and to turn off air conditioning and ventilation. An official warning said that the population “can be affected by smoke gases and chemical components in the breathing air due to a fire”. There was initially talk of an “extreme danger”.
cause unclear
The fire brigade was not yet able to say how the big fire could have broken out at around 4.30 a.m. on the site of a truck stop or what exactly was in the warehouse. However, according to the fire brigade, several “IBC containers” leaked and burst on the site of the truck stop. They contained flammable liquids.
It is not yet clear which chemicals are involved. According to a report by the NDR, it was said to have been hydrogen sulfide. “This is a really extraordinary, difficult operation,” said a fire department spokesman from the site in the morning.
Extinguishing work will probably take a whole day
He assumed that the extinguishing work, in which around 210 emergency services were involved, would continue throughout the day. Only then can the police begin their fire investigation. Initially, the fire area could only be entered with breathing masks due to the heavy smoke development.
