Fast fire brigade deployment: fire extinguished in the Alfter half-timbered house!

Fast fire brigade deployment: fire extinguished in the Alfter half-timbered house!

This morning the Alfter fire department was alerted at 8:36 a.m. after a fire was discovered in a half-timbered house. The house's smoke detectors informed several people in good time, which prevented anything worse from happening. This is a stroke of luck, because when the emergency services arrived, the storage room on the ground floor was already ablaze ksta.de reported.

With combined forces and quick action, the fire brigade immediately launched an extinguishing attack. Two crews wearing respiratory protection entered the building and were able to quickly bring the fire under control. Luckily, it was possible to urgently prevent it from spreading into surrounding rooms or even other buildings. A turntable ladder was used to check the upper floors and the roof. It quickly became clear that extensive extinguishing work was necessary to exclude embers in the half-timbered walls and facade. This work took around two hours, during which roof tiles and parts of the wall cladding also had to be removed.

A total of 50 emergency services from the Alfter fire department were on duty, supported by all four firefighting groups, the day alarm group, the command service and an ambulance from the Rhein-Sieg district. Despite the dramatic fire, all three people who were examined by the emergency services were able to stay on site and did not have to go to hospital.

Readiness exercises

In 2022, the Alfter Volunteer Fire Department carried out its annual exercise under the motto “Fire in the Alfter Castle”. feuerwehr-alfter.de reported. This exercise simulated an alarming situation with heavy smoke and missing people. When the fire brigade arrived, it was unclear whether there were still people in the building, which was difficult for the emergency services.

The important goals of the exercise were to review operational planning and establish a clear leadership structure. A test that was successfully mastered with around 60 volunteers. The operations manager, fire inspector Lukas Zimmermann, was very satisfied with how the exercise went. The findings will be incorporated into future planning for possible operational situations at the castle.

The importance of prevention

Today's events once again underline the importance of smoke alarms and well-trained fire departments. According to the latest CFS CTIF report on fire statistics for 2022, which includes data from 55 countries, the number of fires and fire victims is a serious issue. This report highlights the importance of continually working to improve preparedness and prevention ctif.org notes.

In summary, it can be seen that prevention and proactive action are the key to successful operations. We are all glad that the Alfter fire department was able to react quickly today and thus prevented something much worse from happening.