On Thursday night, an apartment on the second floor of an apartment building in Hildegardispark in Mainz's Oberstadt district was completely engulfed in flames. Thanks to the modern fire protection measures in the new building, all 30 residents were able to escape despite heavy smoke.

At around 3:30 a.m., callers reported a fire in the apartment building in the upper town. Further callers reported an extensive fire with heavy smoke in the stairwell to the emergency services, and the alarm code was raised to "fire with rescue operation" and additional emergency services were alerted.

When the fire department arrived five minutes after the first emergency call, flames were already shooting out of all the windows of an apartment on the second floor. The stairwell of the four-story building was filled with smoke up to the first floor. Numerous residents had already gathered in front of the building.

Several teams wearing heavy breathing apparatus searched for trapped persons and began fighting the fire at the same time. It quickly became apparent that, thanks to smoke detectors and functioning smoke protection doors, all residents had brought themselves to safety via an unaffected stairwell before the fire department arrived.

The resident of the apartment where the fire broke out was also able to save herself and suffered only minor injuries. The residents were provided with warm accommodation in a bus quickly made available by Mainz public transport and looked after by around 30 emergency service personnel. Fortunately, the emergency services did not have to treat any further injuries.

The completely burned-out apartment was extinguished after about 45 minutes. The extreme heat also caused severe damage to the hallway, neighboring apartments, and the stairwell. During the ventilation and mop-up operations, the section head for health (senior emergency physician and organizational manager) helped arrange accommodation for the residents. The professional fire department was supported in fighting the fire by the Bretzenheim and Drais volunteer fire departments.

An inspection of the apartments revealed that 8 of the 14 apartments are still basically habitable. As the building has no electricity or water supply due to the fire, most of the residents have been temporarily accommodated by relatives or friends. The THW, which was also present, will take care of repairs during the course of the day, together with the property management company. People who had not yet found accommodation in the morning were looked after by emergency counselors in a church facility and assisted in their search.

The abandoned fire stations of the professional fire department were manned by volunteer fire departments from Marienborn, Mombach, Stadt, and Weisenau.

In addition to the excellent cooperation between all full-time and volunteer emergency services from all organizations, it should be noted that the successful self-rescue of all residents would not have been possible without strict compliance with the preventive structural fire protection measures in the new building. Smoke detectors, functioning self-closing fire and smoke protection doors, and clear escape routes save lives, as in this case.

Head of operations: Stefan Behrendt
Vehicles BF/FF: 11/6 (guard duty 0/4)
Personnel BF/FF: 28/31 (guard duty 2/41)

At around 11:30 a.m., the Mainz Fire Department received an emergency call reporting a fire in the bulky waste shredder on the premises of Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden (KMW). The dispatcher triggered a major alarm for the Mainz professional fire department and two volunteer fire departments.

On site, employees had already evacuated the smoke-filled delivery hall and adjacent areas and directed the fire department to the scene. Several areas were already heavily smoke-filled at this point, so the fire department could only proceed with heavy breathing apparatus.

With the help of the employees' precise knowledge of the location, the source of the fire in the nearly 15-meter-high facility was quickly found. Several teams wearing heavy breathing apparatus had the fire under control after an hour.

The follow-up extinguishing work in the mountain of waste proved to be time-consuming. With the help of a crane from the power plant, the mountain of waste was pulled apart so that the fire department could extinguish the remaining fire with foam. The follow-up extinguishing work continued until 1:30 p.m.

The smoke was automatically extracted from the hall via the smoke vent. Due to the heavy smoke and the smell of burning, a measuring vehicle from the Wiesbaden fire department was used to take measurements in the surrounding area for safety reasons. No elevated readings were detected and a hazard was ruled out. Waste incineration at the
power plant was able to continue during the operation. Deliveries were stopped during the operation. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Parallel to the operation at the waste incineration plant, the Mainz fire department was alerted to a fire in a paper mill and an automatic fire alarm in a retirement home. Additional professional firefighters and several volunteer firefighters were deployed for this, who also manned the abandoned professional fire stations. The fire department only had to take minor action in the parallel operations.

Head of operations: Bernhard Fischer
Vehicles: 13
Personnel: 45

Early Thursday afternoon brought the Mainz fire department close to its breaking point. Up to seven fire calls at the same time, including a large-scale operation and an accident involving injured firefighters, kept the full-time and volunteer emergency services busy. At times, around 35 emergency vehicles with a total of around 130 emergency personnel were deployed simultaneously in the city area:

11:34 a.m.: Fire at the waste-to-energy plant A fire
broke out at the waste-to-energy plant, causing heavy smoke. The fire department was busy here for around two hours. For more details, please refer to our press release on this operation.

12:13 p.m.: Reported fire in paper factory A large roll of paper
had heated up in a paper factory and was in danger of catching fire. The roll was pulled apart and extinguished by the fire department.

12:20 p.m.: Automatic fire alarm in
a retirement home The automatic fire alarm system in a retirement home had been triggered. The cause was smoke from burnt food. The apartment was ventilated. No one was injured.

1:30 p.m.: Automatic fire alarm in
a retirement home The automatic fire alarm system had also gone off in a retirement home. Here, too, burnt food was the cause of the smoke. Opening the windows was sufficient to ventilate the room. No one was injured.

1:35 p.m.: Smoke alarm triggered at university hospital A smoke alarm was reported to have
been triggered in a building at the university hospital. Construction work was determined to be the cause.

1:41 p.m.: Automatic fire alarm at university hospital
Shortly after the telephone report, the automatic fire alarm system sounded in another building at the university hospital. Additional personnel determined that the cause of the alarm was the same construction work.

1:47 p.m.: Accident on the
way to a call While en route to one of the parallel calls, an emergency vehicle traveling with blue lights and sirens collided at an intersection with a car that was crossing the intersection. Both vehicles were severely damaged in the collision. The three firefighters in the emergency vehicle and the driver of the car were taken to the hospital with injuries. No statements can yet be made about the severity of the injuries. The emergency personnel were taken off duty.
Emergency personnel who were also on their way to a parallel call immediately provided first aid to all those involved and secured the scene. Further investigations
into the circumstances of the accident are being conducted by the police.

3:07 p.m.: Construction accident A falling wall injured
a construction worker at a construction site. The rescue service called on the fire department to assist with the rescue. The man was rescued with serious injuries and taken to hospital. Almost all available personnel from the professional fire
department and 8 of 11 volunteer fire departments were deployed to deal with the simultaneous incidents. This meant that all incidents could be dealt with promptly with the necessary manpower.

The professional fire department personnel will not finish their shift until the changing of the guard on Friday morning at 7 a.m. As always, the volunteer fire department personnel are available around the clock in their free time or during work to ensure the safety of Mainz's citizens.

We wish the injured a speedy and full recovery.

Head of operations: Manuela Liebetanz
Vehicles: approx. 40
Personnel: approx. 130

Starting on Friday afternoon, storm Zeynep swept across the city of Mainz and the surrounding districts, resulting in an increased number of calls for the fire department. The fire department control center in Mainz alerted units from Mainz to 18 storm-related incidents and units from the surrounding districts to 25. In most cases, these involved fallen trees, broken branches, and collapsed construction fences.

The worst case involved a female driver with her child who collided with a falling tree on the exit from the A 643 towards Gonsenheim. The driver was slightly injured in the accident and was taken by the emergency services with her child to a hospital in Mainz for further examination.

The Mainz professional fire department was supported by volunteer fire departments from Bretzenheim, Ebersheim, Hechtsheim, Laubenheim, and the city.

The storm subsided around 9:00 p.m.

The police also deployed eight patrol cars to assist with cordoning off areas in the city.

Operations managers: Patzke, Veith, Berghäuser, Roßkopf, Kiesewalter
Vehicles BF/FF: 6/6
Personnel BF/FF: 20/32

On Tuesday evening, shortly before 6 p.m., the Mainz fire department was called to a reported basement fire in a residential building on Wallaustraße.

Upon arrival, the first responders discovered that the escape routes in the building were heavily smoke-filled and that the elevator cabin on the ground floor was on fire. The first residents had already fled through the smoke-filled area. Since it was initially unclear how many people were injured, the volunteer fire department was joined by the health section command and the rapid response team (SEG) for care and medical services.

The fire in the elevator cabin was quickly extinguished by the fire department, but the measures to clear the smoke from the building proved to be very extensive. The fire department had to check several apartments in the smoke-filled area of the building to ensure that no one was left there.

Two people were treated by the emergency medical services. A city bus was set up in Moselstraße next to fire station 2 to provide temporary accommodation for the residents, where 27 people were looked after by the SEG support team.
Due to heavy smoke damage, the apartments on the 5th floor are currently uninhabitable. The residents of the ground floor to the 4th floor were able to return to their apartments. The residents of the 5th floor were accommodated by other residents in the building.

The operation was completed at 8:07 p.m.

In addition to emergency personnel from both stations of the professional fire department and the Mainz-Stadt volunteer fire department, the rescue service, the police, the health section management, and SEG support were also on duty.
The police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

Head of operations: Stefan Behrendt
Vehicles BF/FF: 5/1
Personnel BF/FF: 19/7

Two traffic accidents on the A60 Bingen-Darmstadt motorway on Wednesday afternoon resulted in fire department callouts and long traffic jams in both directions. The accidents on the Weisenauer Bridge and at the Mainspitz junction were difficult for the fire department to reach due to the poor emergency lane.

At around 11 a.m., a serious traffic accident with a trapped person was reported on the A60, Weisenauer Bridge in the direction of Hesse. The Mainz professional fire department and the rescue service were dispatched to the scene. At the same time, an accident was reported in the Mainspitz triangle in the same direction. The Rüsselsheim fire department was alerted.

As the accident site on the motorway bridge was blocked by accident vehicles and debris, a traffic jam immediately formed. In this traffic jam, the emergency lane was only formed hesitantly. Trucks in the left lanes and vehicles that got stuck when changing lanes delayed the arrival of the fire departments by around 10 minutes.

The emergency vehicles were only able to proceed at walking pace and with personal instructions from road users. Two emergency personnel covered the last kilometer to the accident site on foot to assess the situation. While approaching via the emergency lane, one vehicle from the Mainz fire department and one from Rüsselsheim suffered minor damage to their exterior mirrors.

Fortunately, no one was trapped at the scene of the accident. Two cars and a truck had collided on the Weisenau Bridge. The driver of one car was taken to hospital with injuries. The others involved were able to remain at the scene. The accident site at the Mainspitz junction was dealt with by the Rüsselsheim fire department.

The complete closure caused a traffic jam approximately 10 km long, which was probably also the reason why the fire alarm system in the Hechtsheim motorway tunnel was triggered at 1:50 p.m., blocking traffic in both directions. The fire alarm system was reset by the fire department after a short time. This led to further traffic jams in both directions.

The fire department clearly points out that even when traffic is slow-moving without any apparent cause, an emergency lane must be formed immediately between the left lane and the remaining lanes. Any unnecessary delay can cost lives.

Head of operations: Michael Ehresmann Fire department
vehicles: 4 Fire department
personnel: 16

The Mainz Fire Department was called to a traffic accident on the A 60 federal highway in the direction of Darmstadt at around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night. On the Weisenauer Bridge, a 22-year-old female driver was involved in a single-vehicle accident for reasons that are still unclear.

The young driver had rolled her small car, causing it to come to a stop on its passenger side. Prudent first responders in high-visibility vests secured the scene and were able to rescue the driver from her car and bring her to safety behind the guardrail.

This prudent action in the dark and rain prevented possible secondary accidents. The fire department provided first aid until the ambulance service arrived, secured the scene, removed the debris, and disconnected the battery from the crashed vehicle.

As a precaution, the young driver was taken to a hospital in Rüsselsheim by the Mainz ambulance service.  

Head of operations: Fire Inspector Sascha Faust Fire department
vehicles: 3 Fire department
personnel: 10
Image material: Image rights belong to the Mainz city administration.

Due to carbon monoxide alarms being triggered, the Mainz fire department was called to a residential and commercial building on Mombacher Straße on Monday afternoon.

The fire department was alerted by the emergency medical services, which detected significantly elevated carbon monoxide levels in one of the apartments. Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless respiratory toxin that is produced by incomplete combustion. Even in small quantities, it is harmful to health.

When the fire department arrived, the emergency services had already led the affected persons out of the apartment and out of the building.

The Mainz professional fire department located a defective heating system in the basement as the source of the problem. All other residents were taken outside. After the heating system was shut down, measurements were taken with gas detectors throughout the building. The following ventilation measures cleared the apartments of carbon monoxide. After another check with measuring devices, all residents were able to return to their apartments.

In total, the emergency services treated 11 people, four of whom were taken to hospital for further monitoring.

The prudent use of carbon monoxide detectors by the first emergency services crew to arrive prevented worse consequences.

Unlike smoke detectors, which are required by law, carbon monoxide detectors can be installed voluntarily and additionally. The fire department recommends installing them near heating systems that run on fossil fuels. The devices enable residents to be alerted at an early stage. Tested and approved devices can be purchased on the open market by all interested citizens.

Head of operations: Operations control service Manuela Liebetanz Fire department
vehicles: 6 Fire department
personnel: 15
Image material: Image rights belong to the city administration of Mainz