An intensive search for the source of an unclear burning smell probably prevented a major fire in the school sports hall at IGS Bretzenheim on Wednesday. Mats stored in a storage room were on fire. It took around four hours to extinguish the fire.

Caretakers and teachers at IGS Bretzenheim noticed a burning smell in the sports hall on Wednesday morning. They evacuated the hall and alerted the fire department. Initially, no cause for the slight smell could be found, so the situation was monitored and the hall was closed.

In the early afternoon, the fire department and caretakers checked the hall again and noticed an even stronger smell of burning in the storage area. After an extensive search, during which the stored material was moved, the area was ventilated, and several thermal imaging cameras were used to meticulously examine the area, unusual heat development was discovered in a stack of stored carpet mats.

It quickly became clear that this and other stacks were apparently burning inside. As there was now also noticeable smoke development, all work had to be carried out using heavy breathing apparatus.
Together with the Bretzenheim volunteer fire department, which was called in as backup, the professional fire department removed around 400 affected mats by hand and took them outside, where they were extinguished. In addition, the hall had to be cleared of smoke using three fans.

After around four hours, the emergency services had extinguished all the mats and cleared the hall of smoke. The damage was limited to the mats. Without the attentive employees of IGS and the determined search by the fire department, the fire could have developed unnoticed, spread to the entire warehouse, and quickly turned into a major fire.

The police are investigating why the mats started burning.

Head of operations: Michael Ehresmann Fire department
vehicles: 3/2 Fire department
personnel: 10/12

On July 8, 2022, at around 9:30 p.m., the Mainz Fire Department was alerted to smoke coming from a basement on Finther Landstraße, the former housing area there.

When the emergency services arrived, several residents were already standing in front of the building. It quickly became clear that only one basement was on fire. The smoke had spread throughout the basement. The stairwell was not filled with smoke. A team wearing breathing apparatus was able to quickly locate the source of the fire. For reasons that are unclear, a garbage container had caught fire. A resident had noticed the fire and closed the lid of the garbage can.

An employee of the security company extinguished the fire with an ABC powder extinguisher. The fire department took the garbage can outside and cleared the basement using fans. No one was injured and there was no property damage.

Head of operations: Katja Stock Fire department
vehicles: 10/1 Fire department
personnel: 24/6

At around 4:15 p.m. this Saturday afternoon, the Mainz fire department was alerted to a reported roof truss fire on Am Rathaus street in Mainz's old town. Upon arrival at the scene, dark smoke was observed coming from the roof area of the building. Reconnaissance measures were immediately carried out and preparations were made to extinguish the fire.

During the investigation, it was discovered that a fire had broken out on the flat roof, which fortunately was limited to an area of less than one square meter when the fire department arrived. The fire was quickly extinguished using a small fire extinguisher. Further inspection of the roof covering and the apartment below ruled out the possibility that the fire had already spread to the roof.

The favorable outcome is thanks to the prudent actions of the neighbors, who detected the fire early on and immediately made an emergency call, enabling the fire department to respond quickly. If the fire had remained undetected for just a little longer, it would most likely have spread rapidly to a larger area.

In addition to the Mainz professional fire department, the rescue service was on site with an ambulance, as was the police.

Head of operations: Fire Inspector Markus Ketelaer Fire department
vehicles: 1 command vehicle, 2 rescue firefighting vehicles, 1 turntable ladder Fire department
personnel: 16

This afternoon at around 3:50 p.m., a major fire broke out at an auto parts store in the Mainz-Mombach district. The Mainz Fire Department was alerted by the building's automatic fire alarm system. Shortly thereafter, numerous emergency calls were received by the fire department control center. Heavy smoke was already visible to the emergency responders as they approached the scene. As a result, the alarm level was immediately raised and additional personnel from both fire stations as well as the Mainz Volunteer Fire Department were alerted. 

When the first units arrived, part of the hall used as a warehouse was already fully ablaze. Fortunately, the person in charge of the business was able to inform the fire department's incident commander that all employees had left the building unharmed. Firefighting operations began immediately. Several operational sections were formed for this purpose. A barrier was set up to successfully prevent the flames from spreading to adjacent parts of the hall and neighboring halls. Several aerial rescue vehicles were deployed for this purpose.

Due to the rapid spread of the fire, additional emergency services were called in for support, including the Wiesbaden fire department and fire departments from the Mainz-Bingen and Alzey-Worms districts. Off-duty personnel from the professional fire department were also alerted. The health section management provided several ambulances to treat injured emergency personnel if necessary. Fortunately, only one emergency responder has been reported as slightly injured so far. A Red Cross unit provided food and drinks for the emergency responders. 

An alarm was raised for all volunteer fire departments in the city area to fill in for the professional fire department's abandoned stations. They were supported by the Nieder-Olm fire department. And they had a lot to do. Even during the height of the major fire, there were several calls for assistance in the city area. Among other things, several fire alarms were responded to and a fire on a balcony of the Franz Stein retirement home was fought.

In the meantime, the fire has been declared extinguished. Follow-up extinguishing work is currently underway. This is likely to continue into the late evening hours, as part of the hall is in danger of collapsing and cannot be entered. The Mainz fire department is being supported in the follow-up firefighting operations by the THW with lighting and wheel loaders, as well as by the Boehringer Ingelheim plant fire department with a telescopic articulated mast. To date, almost 200 emergency personnel have been deployed. A fire watch will be maintained throughout the night.

Head of operations: Senior Fire Director Martin Spehr Fire
department/fire brigade personnel: approx. 200

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Mainz Fire Department received several calls alerting them to a burning street sweeper on Emmeransstraße.

The column of smoke was already visible from Rheinallee as they approached. When they arrived at the scene, the street sweeper was fully engulfed in flames, which had spread to a nearby tree, and burning fuel was spreading from the vehicle along the gutter in both directions to the sewer system. 

The fire on the street sweeper was quickly brought under control and extinguished using a rapid intervention unit and an additional C-pipe.

The heat of the fire damaged several parked vehicles, the road surface, and a building. To prevent the fire from reigniting, the fire department flooded the sweeper's dirt collection container with water.

At the same time, the site was searched for further hazards and signs of the fire spreading. The incident commander ordered Mainz's public utility companies and the lower water authority to the site and informed the sewage treatment plant.

After the investigation, smoke ingress into one of the adjacent buildings could be ruled out. The underground car park of the affected building was also checked for smoke and fire spread. The underground car park was initially filled with smoke, but was cleared using the ventilation system installed in consultation with the building manager.

The spread of the operating materials into the sewer system initially posed a challenge for the fire department and also had to be investigated further. To this end, two sewer manholes along Löwenhofstraße in the direction of Große Bleiche and two manholes at the intersection of Löwenhofstraße and Vordere Synagogenstraße were opened. The flow direction of the sewage could be determined based on the massive smoke development from the manholes. After the manholes were opened, a flash fire occurred within the sewer system as far as Vordere Synagogenstraße, with significant flames visible at street level. A second C-pipe was then put into position to bring this secondary fire, which was now blazing from the sewer system in Löwenhofstraße, under control. In addition, one shaft each was opened on Große Bleiche and at the intersection of Margaretengasse and Flachsmarktstraße, but no findings could be made here. After the secondary fire had been extinguished and the sewer system had been flushed with the water used to extinguish both fires, measurements were taken in the opened shafts to rule out the possibility of another deflagration. 

By around 4:20 p.m., the fires had been extinguished and the scene was handed over to the police at 5:35 p.m.

No information can be provided about the cause of the fire. Fortunately, no one was injured during the operation. The Mainz
professional fire department was on site with vehicles from both stations, the rescue service with an ambulance, and the police with several patrol cars.

Head of operations: Fire Inspector Patrick Schulz Fire department
vehicles: 1 command vehicle, 1 rescue firefighting vehicle, 1 turntable ladder, 1 tanker firefighting vehicle, 1 multi-purpose vehicle Fire department
personnel: 14

Image rights belong to the Mainz city administration.