Langenfeld/Mettmann (dpa/lnw) – After the fire with injuries and considerable property damage in the municipal asylum seeker accommodation in Langenfeld near Düsseldorf, the investigators consider a technical defect to be unlikely. This was announced by the Mettmann district police authority on Tuesday. However, the cause of the fire has not yet been clarified beyond doubt. According to the current status of the investigation, it is not yet clear whether the fire was intentional or caused by negligence. So far, there have been no indications “that the fire could have been intentionally set by a person who was not authorized to access the accommodation”.
According to the police, four people suffered from mild smoke inhalation in the fire late Friday evening. A resident who tried to save himself from the flames by jumping from the first floor suffered a foot injury. The 36-year-old was admitted to the hospital as an inpatient. The building is currently uninhabitable. The property damage is estimated at 250,000 euros.
According to the Langenfeld fire department, there were two fires in the building complex on Friday evening within just 90 minutes. During the first operation, a mattress was on fire, which had already been extinguished before the fire brigade arrived. In the case of the second fire in another building, the first rescue workers to see flames hitting windows on the upper floor. The fire had therefore already spread to the roof structure there. With two turntable ladders, the emergency services could have prevented worse.
The fire brigade had also declared that the building, which had been badly damaged by flames and smoke, was no longer habitable for the time being. According to their information from the weekend, another 57 residents of the building who were not injured are affected. They were housed in free accommodation in buildings surrounding the property in Langenfeld. More than 135 emergency services were on site at the scene of the fire. The operation lasted more than three hours.
