There were numerous small fires in Freiburg on New Year’s Eve. The night was even quieter than feared, even for the rescue service and the police.
The inhabitants of Freiburg welcomed the new year 2023 with a large fireworks display. There was plenty to do in the city center and in hot spots like Kanonenplatz. The evening was relatively quiet for the rescuers.
After midnight, the fire brigade had to move to Weingarten for the biggest New Year’s operation. There was a fire on a third-floor balcony of the wooden high-rise building on Bugginger Strasse near Else-Liefmann-Platz. There was a fire operation from inside and outside, as reported by Martin Kupper, Freiburg fire brigade directorate. The fire was quickly put out. “All in all, the night was thankfully quieter than we had feared,” said Kupper. Previously there had only been several small fires, for example from garbage can shelters. There were no injuries. There were also several false alarms, as the fire alarm systems were triggered by smoke coming from outside.
Extinguishing a small fire on Basler Strasse was only possible with police protection, according to the fire brigade. The forces were launched by passers-by with bottles and firecrackers. Only when the police arrived with three patrol cars did the rioters flee.
The firefighters had increased their readiness. In addition to the professional firefighters, the departments Unterstadt, Herdern, Zähringen, Rieselfeld, Waltershofen and Hochdorf also spent the New Year in the tool sheds. A total of 46 volunteer firefighters were on duty. The control center on Eschholzstraße was reinforced by the fire brigade with two additional dispatchers and the rescue service with an additional supervisor. The management services (shift office manager, management service and fire chief) were also present in the control center.
In an initial investigation, shortly after 3 in the morning, the fire brigade listed nine small fires, five false alarms and administrative assistance to the gardens and civil engineering department, where road safety material was transported and set up
From 20:00 until now, the rescue service has led around 65 operations in the city of Freiburg and the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, which have been dispatched from the integrated control center. By 1:30 there had been about 50. Fortunately, there were no serious cases, DRK spokesman Matthias Reinbold told the Badische Zeitung overnight.
The police also reported at 1.30 am that there had been many operations, but so far there had been nothing dramatic.
