By Ole Kroning and Timo Beurich
What a fate! A family of four from Pankow lost their home last week. House, garage and shed went up in flames. Now the Brederecks are left with nothing. And they must not rebuild their destroyed home.
“This place was home to all of us. Nothing in the world would mean more to us if we could rebuild everything we lost here,” says father André (57). Because: Although the insurance company pays for the damage, they will probably not get their house back like this.
Reason: The leasehold property with weekend cottage and chicken coop, which grew into a home over three generations, belongs to Deutsche Bahn. The burnt down GDR building had grandfathering. However, according to the lease agreement, it is not permitted to rebuild it in this size. Only 24 square meters would be allowed.
Review: It was an hour after midnight last Tuesday when there was a loud bang in the shed on the corner property on Kapellenweg in the Blankenburg district.
Everything burned down, also because the fire brigade had problems with extinguishing water. From a great distance, the 84 emergency services had to lay a construction made of 40 hoses over a kilometer of hoses because there were no hydrants in the allotment garden area, which had been repurposed as a residential area.
Charred debris everywhere: This is what the property looks like a week after the fire Photo: Timo Beurich
The helpers were able to prevent it from spreading to neighboring properties. But not the damage for the owners. The only consolation for André Bredereck (57) and his wife Anja (54), who lived on the property with their daughter (24) and son-in-law (27), was that the helpers were able to bring their koi carp out of the pond, which was polluted by the extinguishing water, to safety.
Over the past six years, the family had modernized the house and property for around 180,000 euros. The trained tiler had celebrated his 57th birthday the day before the big fire. The birthday present, a hot tub, was also destroyed by the flames.
The police have now been able to determine the cause of the fire. Accordingly, it was a tool battery that exploded in the shed and set it on fire.
The fire brigade was able to move the family’s koi carp to a second pond during the fire Photo: Timo Beurich
The family has now moved into a holiday apartment in Mühlenbeck (Oberhavel) with their remaining belongings. The insurance company pays the rent for the next 150 days. During this time, the couple want to do everything to ensure that their unhappiness somehow turns for the better.