Large fire in the Wiesenhof poultry slaughterhouse
Category: National Firefighting Team of the Year
Fire department: Volunteer Fire Department Lohne, Lower Saxony (Germany)
This fire was probably the largest, most complex fire in the history of the Lohne Fire Department. On Easter Monday of 2016, the largest part of the Wiesenhof poultry slaughterhouse burned to the ground. The fire broke out in one part of the Wiesenhof company and subsequently spread to other plant buildings. The cause was a technical defect in an evaporator attached to the trapezoidal sheets of the roof, which fell off after the evaporator had caught fire.
In the area where the fire developed, neither automatic fire detection nor fire alarm systems were installed – as well as no automatic extinguishing systems. Thus, the fire was not detected when it started.
The discoverers of the fire did not become aware of it until it had spread to other building sections due to fumes. Furthermore, the area where the fire originated was narrowed down to the evaporator of a refrigeration unit.
The Volunteer Fire Department Lohne succeeded in preventing the fire from jumping to the new part of the poultry slaughterhouse – despite a physical connection. To accomplish this, water was permanently fed into the sprinkler systems and a position near the connection was fortified. Another company on the same grounds was additionally protected against the fire. Water was brought in from a distance of three kilometres, which also hampered the firefighting operations.
The area was divided into four sectors. Other sectors were additionally set up for the water supply, the provision of resources, for aid and support of firefighters and for the press.
Altogether, the Lohne Fire Department's exceptionally calm and coordinated actions were confirmed by many involved parties in subsequent debriefings. The cooperation with other brigades and organizations was praised.
More than 600 forces from fire departments in the entire Vechta district as well as the Cloppenburg, Diepholz, Osnabrück, Oldenburg and Emsland districts succeeded in controlling the fire overnight. They were supported by emergency services from the Maltese Cross medical aid agency, the German Red Cross supply train and police officials. The property damage is said by police to be in the tens of millions.
