A 40-year-old man tries to remove unwanted vegetation with a weed burner and sets fire to a Thuja hedge. The fire spreads from the hedge at lightning speed, engulfs caravans and bungalows, causes gas bottles to explode and leaves a trail of destruction.
The Thuja hedge is easily flammable because of its dry and thus dried out branches. They are also considered highly flammable because their leaves contain essential oils.
As the Wiesendangen fire department writes on its website, a chain reaction is triggered as soon as a Thuja hedge catches fire. If the hedge catches fire, it “sweats” out more oil, which in turn intensifies the fire. “Once the chain reaction has started, such a fire can practically not be controlled with a garden hose in this phase!” warns the fire department. Due to the high heat energy, hedges close to buildings are at high risk of an attack.
The residents of the affected housing units and the guests at the campsite were lucky: they were all able to get to safety in time. The damage is estimated to amount to several hundred thousand francs.
