Catastrophe canceled: district heating management in Jena

Jena. After thousands of people in Jena were cut off from district heating after an accident, the supply has been running again since Thursday morning. As a spokesman for the Jena Stadtwerke announced in the morning, the repair of the Winzerla power plant was successfully completed after midnight. Then load tests were carried out. Since these were also successful, the company was gradually being resumed at 3 a.m. Mayor Thomas Nitzsche (FDP) had previously explained the catastrophe. After the repair, this was kept again.

After the temperature had been gradually increased, it was again around 118 degrees "The cause of the accident was a tear in the weld seam at 5 a.m. in the district heating tube," said the speaker. A hot steam cloud came from an underground district heating structure on Wednesday morning. After the accident, up to 6,500 households in the north of Jena were separated from the district heating supply.

Special companies in action

On Wednesday morning, a hot steam cloud from the underground district heating main line left. According to the public supply company, the road was demolished there over a length of six meters. Stadtwerke employees worked with pumps and suction devices to remove the water with up to 130 degrees Celsius. According to this, over 40 experts were used at the scene of the accident all day, including specialist companies.

Mayor Thomas Nitzsche (FDP) explained the disaster on Wednesday evening. According to the city, the Corona contact restrictions do not apply to those affected-they can be accepted by relatives, friends or acquaintances.

People in the affected area were asked to keep windows and doors closed in order to delay the cooling of their houses as long as possible. Nitzsche asked the Jenaer to absorb those affected by the district heating failure as much as possible. The usual hygiene regulations must be observed.

"Beautiful and great solidarity"

until the heat supply is restored, the disaster should occur, it said. The city of Jena and the municipal utilities form a common team of crisis. Citizens can contact a hotline (03641/49 55 99) in the city. At times, up to 14 people accepted calls and worked on inquiries from residents who needed emergency accommodation. A total of 20 people were housed in Jena hotels, said the city's spokeswoman in the evening. However, the vast majority remained with acquaintances or may have remained in their own apartment for the time being.

"There was great solidarity among the Jenaers," said the spokeswoman. People had offered those affected a place to sleep or heating on social media. The city had set up a central e-mail address (havariehilf@jena.de) under which the offers of help could be shared.