After a gas bottle exploded, a fireball shot across the roof of the apartment building Photo: Spreepicture
By Ole Kroning and Jörg Bergmann
Tenants saw a huge fireball roll over the roof of their apartment building after a mega bang!
The explosion of a propane gas bottle that shook the eight-storey residential building on Neue Hochstrasse in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen on Wednesday evening could be heard as far away as Pankow and Prenzlauer Berg.
The fire brigade and police were called around 9 p.m. because the roof was on fire. The cooperative building is currently being renovated. Roofers were working there up until an hour before the fire broke out.
The fire brigade came with 100 emergency services. According to a spokesman, 300 square meters were on fire and the residents were brought to safety. Also Sigrun Funk (82) from the 7th floor: “They said we had to leave immediately. We got my neighbor and then the fire brigade took us down to the other side of the street.”
Pensioner Sigrun Funk (82) had to flee her apartment: “I have a pacemaker. My whole body was shaking.” Photo: Joerg Bergmann
A short time later there was an explosion. Debris flew onto the street and roofs of adjacent houses, a fireball lit up the night sky. In an apartment on the 7th floor there was a hole almost one meter wide in the ceiling. With the help of a drone, the helpers collected the rubble after extinguishing it. The cause of the fire is still unclear. Tenant Pawel Piwko (44) ran the extinguishing water into his apartment on the 4th floor.
He suspects that insulation material caught fire when laying roofing felt.
Civil engineer Pawel Piwko (44): “The extinguishing water ran through to my ceiling. But I see it relaxed. ” Photo: Joerg Bergmann