For unknown reasons, shortly before 1:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, a serious traffic accident occurred between a semi-trailer and a Mercedes van on the highway feeder road at the Mombach roundabout on the A643 in the direction of Bingen. Based on the initial emergency call, both stations of the Mainz professional fire department were alerted to the scene of the accident. When the first vehicle from Fire Station 2 arrived, the all-clear was quickly given, as the police had already determined that, contrary to the report, no one was trapped in the small van. The emergency services from Fire Station 1 were therefore able to abort their mission.

Upon investigation of the accident site, the following picture emerged:
A Mercedes van had crashed into the left rear side of the semi-trailer at what was presumably a high speed. The driver of the van was apparently very lucky. He was only slightly injured in the accident and had already been freed from his vehicle when the first emergency services arrived. The accident would probably have been fatal for any passenger. The driver was treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital as a precaution. The truck driver was in a state of mild shock but was otherwise uninjured and was quickly reassured.

The fire department simply sprinkled binding agent on spilled operating fluids. The recovery of the truck and van was handed over to two specialist companies. It is completely unclear what caused the accident. The highway police have launched an investigation. The amount of property damage cannot be estimated. In addition to the fire department with four vehicles deployed, the emergency medical services with an emergency doctor, the police, and the highway police were on site.

Head of operations: Fire Department Chief Klemens Boenke Fire department
vehicles: 4 Fire department
personnel: 12
Image material: Image rights belong to the Mainz city administration.

On Friday, January 15, 2021, at 12:34 p.m., the fire department received a report of a chimney fire on Römerstraße in Mainz-Ebersheim. The fire department control center then alerted emergency personnel from both professional fire stations and the Mainz-Ebersheim volunteer fire department.

When the emergency services arrived, they found heavy smoke on the ground floor and upper floor of the single-family home. Two people who were in the building had been warned by a smoke detector and had already left the building.

According to the homeowner, the building had been unoccupied for some time, but the wood-burning stove had been lit due to the cold weather while various work was being carried out in the building. Shortly afterwards, the building was completely filled with smoke. Both people were examined by the emergency services as a precaution and fortunately remained unharmed.

During the investigation, it was determined that the smoke was not being vented through the chimney pipe, but was escaping in the area of the brick stove in the ceiling, among other places. Presumably, the chimney pipe had become clogged in the area between the ground floor and the upper floor, causing a chimney fire.

As a precautionary measure, a firefighting team wearing breathing apparatus prepared to attack the fire on the ground floor with a hose, while at the same time the turntable ladder was positioned with special chimney sweeping tools in order to sweep the chimney from above. Another team checked the maintenance hatch in the basement and took up position there with a powder extinguisher. A third team used a thermal imaging camera to check the area around the chimney on the upper floor and in the attic.

The wooden ceiling was removed to investigate the cause of the increasing smoke development in the area between the wood-burning stove and the ceiling. It was found that the wooden substructure of the ceiling in the area of the wood-burning stove had already caught fire. The fire was extinguished by directing water onto the ceiling structure. As the sloping chimney could not initially be swept from above using the turntable ladder, the chimney fire was brought under control with several bursts from a powder extinguisher via the lower maintenance hatch in the basement, thus preventing the fire from spreading.

After several attempts with various sweeping attachments, it was finally possible to sweep the chimney flue completely, allowing the smoke to be vented upwards again.

Further investigation revealed that the combustion chamber of the stove was not lined with special fireclay bricks, and hot smoke and heat radiation reached the area between the brick chimney cladding, combustion chamber, chimney pipe, and wooden ceiling at the rear of the stove. Together with the considerable heat build-up in the chimney pipe, this caused the fire to spread to the wooden ceiling.

The operation was completed at 2:30 p.m., and the site was handed over to the district chimney sweep.

In addition to the fire department, the following were also on site: the rescue service with an ambulance and the police with a patrol car. Römerstraße was completely closed to traffic during the firefighting operations.

Head of operations: Fire Department Councilor René Adler
BF/FF vehicles: 1 ELW, 1 HLF, 1 DLK, 1 MZF / 1 HLF, 1 DLK
BF/FF personnel: 11 officers from the professional fire department / 11 firefighters from the Mainz-Ebersheim Fire Department
Image material: Image rights belong to the City of Mainz

Early on Sunday morning at around 6:15 a.m., the Mainz Fire Department control center received a 112 emergency call reporting a residential fire in Mainz Neustadt. While en route, several residents reported heavy smoke coming from the building.

When the first responders arrived, several people had escaped to balconies and the roof and had to be rescued by the fire department, some via turntable ladders and others via the stairwell wearing escape hoods. A total of fifteen residents were rescued by the fire department, five of whom were transported to hospitals in Mainz.

The fire broke out in an apartment on the second floor and was brought under control and extinguished by the fire department using self-contained breathing apparatus. The fire had also spread to the facade's thermal insulation composite system and had to be extinguished from the outside as well.

A dog in the affected apartment could not be saved and died in the apartment.

The building’s gas supply and parts of its electricity supply had to be shut off. The apartments are temporarily uninhabitable. The residents found temporary shelter with family members and friends.

On the scene were the Mainz Professional Fire Department, the Mainz-Stadt Volunteer Fire Department, the emergency medical services with a large contingent from the regular emergency medical service as well as the Rapid Response Care Team and the Health Sector Command, and the police. The emergency responders were supported by Mainzer Netze and two buses from Mainzer Mobilität to provide temporary housing for the building’s residents.

The fire department cannot provide any information regarding the cause or extent of the damage. The police have launched an investigation into the matter.

Incident Commander: Senior Fire Chief Holger Hagen Fire Department/Volunteer Fire Department
Vehicles: 12/1 Fire Department/Volunteer Fire Department
Personnel: 23/6
Image Credit: Image rights belong to the City of Mainz

On Saturday, January 30, 2021, at 9:30 p.m., the Mainz Fire Department was called to a chimney fire on Kornblumenweg in Mainz-Ebersheim. Shortly after lighting the fireplace in the living room, the owner of the terraced house noticed that the chimney pipe was overheating. She then extinguished the fire in the fireplace and emptied it.

As the owner was unsure whether everything was now okay, she informed the fire department. The Mainz Fire Department responded with 16 members of the professional fire department (BF) and 8 members of the Ebersheim Volunteer Fire Department.

Only the volunteer firefighters and one BF incident commander were deployed on site.
The other BF personnel were able to leave the scene after a very short time.

The Ebersheim volunteer fire department checked all access points to the chimney. One team checked the fireplace, including the connecting pipe on the ground floor. At the same time, a second team checked the inspection openings in the basement. No immediate danger was detected. As a precaution, all five chimney pipes were checked with the turntable ladder and "cleaned" with a chimney sweep device. Here, too, there were no abnormalities.

Only in the approx. 1-meter-long chimney pipe on the ground floor were embers found afterwards. Presumably, a small amount of soot had settled in the pipe over time, which began to smolder when the stove was lit, ultimately leading to excessive heat build-up in the stove pipe.

No danger, no damage. In addition to the Mainz fire department, a police patrol car and an ambulance from the German Red Cross in Nieder-Olm were also on site.

Head of operations: Fire Chief Rüdiger Zeuner-Christ
Vehicles BF/FF: 4/2
Personnel BF/FF: 16/8 (plus 11 men on standby in the equipment shed)
Image material: Image rights belong to the Mainz city administration.