Great fire in Hückelhoven: Fire brigade fights against Flammeninferno!

Great fire in Hückelhoven: Fire brigade fights against Flammeninferno!

On the evening of January 25, 2025, a devastating fire broke out in Hückelhoven, North Rhine-Westphalia, again in the former Houben mattress factory. This is the second fire within just 24 hours. The first incident occurred on Friday evening when wooden pallets, foam and rubbish opened on fire. With this fire, 119 emergency services were on site that managed to quickly control the flames without causing major damage to the building. However, the fire brigade reported another alarm on Saturday evening around 8:00 p.m. when the entire building was full and the flames visibly knocked out of the roof. The fire license was seen for miles in the village, which caused a dramatic scenario.

Over 100 firefighters fought against the meter -high flames that could quickly spread. Due to the risk of collapse caused by the fire and the already damaged roof structure, the building had to burn down in a controlled manner. Emergency services could therefore not penetrate inside, which is why the fire brigade was strategically positioned in the adjacent residential area to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring houses. Units from Erkelenz and Heinsberg were supported, while a construction consultant of the technical relief organization (THW) was supposed to assess the location on site. The Warn app Nina informed the residents about the threat of poisonous flue gases, which could take an additional precaution.

suspicion of arson

The police have now started the cause of the fire and assumes intentional fire, especially in view of the repeated fire cases in the former factory. The indications of possible arson are intensified by the circumstances of the second fire. There are reports of parts of the roof structure that have already collapsed and a completely collapsed hall. For the residents, a warning was temporarily pronounced to keep their windows and doors closed to protect themselves from the toxic flue gases.

This tragic incident not only leads to questions about the security and condition of the empty building, but also throws a shadow on the operational readiness of the fire brigade in emergencies of this kind. Due to the statistical surveys as href = "https://ctif.org/de/news/der-ctif-zur-weltbrandstatistik-no-27-steht- Jetzt-download-ready"> CTIF annually you know that fires in such former industrial buildings can occur and many challenges in fire fighting.

municipal administrations and firefighters are called to learn from past fire events and act accordingly in order to avoid such wearing. The ongoing investigation will provide additional information about the cause and possibly to those responsible for the fire. The population is invited in this uncertain time to stay vigilant and to keep up to date with current developments.