My city was burning!!

[Kirsten]

Last night, 8 houses in the town center of my hometown burnt down (and they are still burning, actually, at least the fire fighters are still at work, and they probably will be at least for another night).

The fires broke out in two different spots (about 600 m away from each other) and the flames must have been 10 metres high in the dark sky this early morning. 8 houses (we have these old half-timbered houses here, hundreds of years old) were affected and some of them are completely destroyed, and 6 people are in hospital with smoke poisoning, two kids inclused. Luckily no one seems to be seriously injured. But more people had to be evacuated from their houses with ladders this morning. 170 firefighters were at work, and I think most of them are still there.

When I went downtown at noon, the worst was over, but the town looked like a mess. The affected areas were widely closed for the public, and fire fighters, ambulances and all kind of helpers were all over the town. I took some photos to document what was going on. The first were taken from the tower of Tillyschanze from where you could see the whole damage:



















(To be continued)

[Kirsten]

Kirsten

[Emeraldgreen]

I'm so glad everyone got out without injury. I hope all the pets got out too.
Those pictures are incredible. Did you take them? I think I've asked you this before but are you a professional photographer? If you're not, you should be! All the pictures you post of your cats and the outside are truly amazing and you have a very special gift.
I always click on your posts, hoping to see more pics!

[Laura's Babies]

It is so sad that those houses were lost, not just for the people that lived in them but the history in them that was lost. One of my favorite things is old structures of anykind, I am so drawn to them and always wonder about their history.

Those are great pictures of a sad event.

[Randi]

Oh Kirsten, it's awful! It must have been done deliberatly - how cruel! Glad everyone got out alive.

[Barbara]

Oh no! That could easily have been even more dangerous- seeing how close these historic houses are!
I hope they find whoever has done this.
You should get your photos to a local newspaper- they are amazing!

[Kirsten]

It must have been done deliberatly - how cruel!

Yes, I guess you're right... Police cannot start investigating before tomorrow because they are not allowed to enter the houses, but it looks like somebody did it intentionally. Both the fires broke out at the same time, it must have been around 4 am. It was 4:20 that I heard the alarms...

It is so sad that those houses were lost, not just for the people that lived in them but the history in them that was lost.

Oh yes, that is so true!! All these houses had indeed a history, and one of them has just been restored for a lot of money! It's so sad! Also because we will have the huge 825th anniversary of the foundation of our town in June, which will probably be somewhat bitter after this tragedy. But the most important thing is that nobody lost his life...

I hope all the pets got out too.

I hope so, too!!! I haven't heard anything about it yet, but I know this often happens when houses are burning... that there's no time to rescue the pets. OMG, hopefully not!

I think I've asked you this before but are you a professional photographer?

No, I'm not, I'm just taking photos for fun (today, of course, was no fun at all!)

Oh no! That could easily have been even more dangerous- seeing how close these historic houses are!

Oh yes, it could have been much worse! I think the fire fighters did a real good job!

Kirsten

[BC_MoM]

It's so sad when historic buildings are lost. If this was arson, I very much hope that person is found and punished.

With a bit of irony, I love the pictures.

[Medusa]

It's so sad when historic buildings are lost. If this was arson, I very much hope that person is found and punished.

With a bit of irony, I love the pictures.

I couldn't have said it better.

[Kirsten]

Ohhh, I just learnt that an 8 year old dog (labrador/german shepherd-mix) died in the flames... Just read the new articles on the website of our local newspaper.

Learnt that also a gas pipe was damaged while the houses were still burning, so there was a VERY dangerous situation!!! Glad these fire fighters did such a great job!!

BTW, if you're interested, you can see pictures of the actual fire here:

fire 1

fire 2


Hope the links work!
(The photos in the links were taken by the fire fighters, I think)

Kirsten

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

OMG !!!!!! That must have been a real inferno....! I had no idea you live in such a beautiful city, with such beautiful old houses. I love those wooden fronts!!
Your pictures are fantastic, Kirsten Thanks for posting the link to the other ones!

[Kirsten]

Thanks!

Yes, these old houses are beautiful, and very historical. One of those that was lost in the fire was from the 16th century.

Just read in our local newspaper that they started to tear one of the houses down. It wasn't safe anymore to go in there, so the police couldn't even start investigating. But I'm pretty sure it's arson!

Kirsten

[shepgirl]

Historical and very sad to see them ruined this way. I love to visit places that have kept their historical buildings instead of erecting those new cement and glass skyscapers that mean nothing.