Aerial photos of the Berlin fire brigade show the heavy smoke development Photo: Berlin fire department/dpa
From BZ/dpa
A month after the major fire at a blasting site in Berlin’s Grunewald, the police are not assuming that it was a deliberate arson attack.
According to the first witness interviews, there is no evidence that there is any third-party negligence and that someone has intruded from outside and deliberately made “manipulations”, said Police Vice President Marco Langer on Monday in the Interior Committee. “It is very likely that we can rule that out.”
However, there was no concrete evidence of how the fire started.
The more detailed investigation of the criminal police into the cause of the fire should now begin. “This week, the LKA, the BKA and the Federal Institute for Materials Research will go there and investigate the causes,” said Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD).
An investigation group “EG Grunewald” was set up in the State Criminal Police Office. External experts were also hired.
On August 4, a large fire broke out at the blast site. There were numerous explosions because the police store there the dud bombs, grenades and ammunition from World War II, mostly found during construction work, as well as illegal fireworks. The extinguishing work lasted several days.