Major fire on the BAB 5: Fire brigade on duty near Bruchsal!

Major fire on the BAB 5: Fire brigade on duty near Bruchsal!

Today, June 29th, an impressive fire brigade operation caused a stir on the federal highway 5 shortly after Bruchsal in the direction of Karlsruhe. The Bruchsal fire department was alerted at 4:15 p.m. when bushes on a noise barrier burst into flames. Loud ka-news The fire was so violent that a large part of the vegetation on the approximately five meter high wall, a total of around 200 meters, burned down.

The Bruchsal fire department, supported by the Bruchsal and Untergrombach departments as well as the Karlsdorf-Neuthard fire department, responded quickly with three C-pipes from the highway side to fight the fire. The water supply was ensured by a fire truck with 4,800 liters and a roll-off water tank with 8,000 liters. Despite the dedicated fire-fighting work, there were traffic delays: the two right-hand lanes were closed in the direction of Karlsruhe.

Safety measures and injuries

A fire brigade member was injured during the operation and had to receive medical treatment. This was probably the only injury-related mishap in an otherwise well-coordinated effort. Post-extinguishing work was carried out using, among other things, a thermal imaging camera to discover hidden embers and specifically extinguish them. To be on the safe side, the fire site and the surrounding bushes were also wetted with water.

As far as the cause of the fire is concerned, there is currently no reliable information. The investigation is ongoing and a damaged bicycle battery was found, although its connection to the fire is unclear. The police have already started investigations to shed light on the matter.

Use on the highway

In the context of the dangers on motorways, the incident is reminiscent of another, not so distant fire that occurred on October 24, 2018 on the A5 motorway between Bruchsal and Karlsruhe. A truck transporting vehicle parts caught fire, leading to a kilometer-long traffic jam and making extinguishing work more difficult due to an additional car fire in the traffic jam beyond the control of the operations manager, fire department commander Bernd Molitor. At that time, the emergency services needed over three hours to completely put out the fire, as the Report from the Bruchsal Fire Department shows.

Fires on highways are a serious problem. According to that CTIF report Regarding fire statistics, the data from 2022 shows an alarming number of fire brigade operations in many countries, which underlines the enormous pressure on emergency services. Forest fires and accidents involving hazardous materials in particular are on the rise and require not only quick responses but also sustainable safety measures to reduce such incidents.