Fire alarm in Bernburg: Three cars on fire - who is behind it?

Fire alarm in Bernburg: Three cars on fire - who is behind it?

In the early Friday morning, April 11, 2025, there was a deployment of the fire brigade in the Salzland district in Saxony-Anhalt, where three cars went up in flames in Olga-Benario-Straße. The first alarm was triggered around 1.50 a.m. when a vehicle caught fire. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire, but the car suffered severe damage. Fortunately, there were no injuries.

Just a few hours later, around 3:36 a.m., the fire brigade had to move back into Wettiner Straße, where another car burned in the engine area. The flames spread to a parked vehicle so that both cars were completely destroyed. The cause of the fire is currently unclear; The investigation runs to establish possible connections between the two missions. The Salzlandkreis police are asking witnesses to report on 03471-3790 to contribute relevant information. TAG24 reports that the events could indicate a possibly criminal act, even if this has not yet been confirmed.

fire statistics and urban fire risk

In the context of these fires, it is interesting to look at the overarching trends in fire protection. The Centrum for Fire Statistics of the CFIF (CFS-CTIF) publishes reports annually to summarize data on fires worldwide. The fire causes analysis in 66 countries is discussed in report No. 28, which will be released in 2023. The focus is on the development of urban fire risks, which were influenced in the 20th century by political, cultural and technical events.

The global statistics not only document the number of fires recorded in the past 100 years, but also the number of victims affected by fires. This data is of great importance for the development of effective fire protection strategies in urban centers. The current project "100 Cities - 100 Years", which continues, includes a detailed risk assessment based on extensive basic data, and thus offers valuable insights into the fire phenomena in cities. CFS-CTIFIF indicates that the collected data enables a comprehensive analysis of the fire risk. Similar to the recent incidents in Bernburg, it can be seen that urban centers often have an increased fire risk due to their dense development and the large number of vehicles. The current situation in Bernburg and the associated investigations illustrate how important fast reactions of the fire brigade are and what role the public can play in the investigation of fires.