Schwerin/Selmsdorf (dpa/mv) – After the fire in several terraced houses in Selmsdorf (Nordwestmecklenburg district), the public prosecutor’s office in Schwerin initiated investigations into negligent arson against a young woman. According to her own statements, the 22-year-old put a burning note on the roof of one of the houses, which was then blown into the gutter filled with withered leaves, from where the fire spread, said senior public prosecutor Claudia Lange on Monday in Schwerin . The statements of the woman correspond to the statements of a fire expert. The NDR had previously reported.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight on Thursday night in the attic of one of the terraced houses and then caught four others. A total of 23 residents were able to save themselves, they were not allowed to return to their homes and found shelter elsewhere. Four of the buildings were classified as no longer habitable, the police estimated the damage after the fire at more than one million euros.