Hildburghäuser Church Set on Fire
A child set fire to 47 sites in the cycle path and pilgrim of St. Wigbert church in Häselrieth. Twenty-five emergency personnel of the fire brigade quickly extinguished the fire.
Source: In Südthüringen
Häselrieth - The Hildburghausen town fire chief Marcel Koch has never been called to an outreach in a church in the town - and then to one of these. "The alarm went off on Saturday around 1.45 pm - smoke in Häselrieth church." With this information, a vehicle of the Hildburghausen fire brigade drove to the scene of the fire as quickly as possible. The police already approached the firemen, informed them about the smoky church and that a child had started several fires.''
Marcel Koch called for reinforcements - and the first troops, equipped with respiratory protection technology and thermal imaging cameras, were quickly able to examine the smoky church interior. We did not use water, but instead worked with CO2 extinguishers," says Koch. This is a technique that minimizes the damage caused by the extinguishing work in the church, which is a protected historical monument, because it works with a gas that displaces the oxygen - and thus takes away the air from the flames to blaze, so to speak. "So the fire is suffocated," explains the city fire chief. The fire is cooled immediately, since the carbon dioxide has a temperature of minus 74 degrees Celsius. The child had lit the feet of the benches, for example, but also the altar, the doors and seat cushions. The Christ Cross had also caught fire.
The parish council meets and they talk about how to proceed. "Until then, the church will remain closed. But I expect it will be reopened to visitors in the foreseeable future." St. Wigbert's Church in Häselrieth is to remain "Open Church" - "despite the arson", says Kronacher - and adds one thing: "We trust in God!"