A major fire broke out in Essen from Sunday night to Monday, engulfing a fifteen-meter-high mountain of scrap metal.
According to the fire department, the first calls came in around 1 a.m. The operation is still ongoing, and fire officials note that “the end of the firefighting efforts is not yet in sight.”
Around 70 firefighters are currently on site. Excavators, loaders, and even a firefighting vessel have been deployed to combat the flames. The vessel is pumping water from a nearby canal, located a kilometer and a half away. The operation is complicated by the need for firefighters to manually sift through piles of burning metal to reach the source of the fire.
Residents of the Altenessen district in Essen have been advised not to open windows or doors. Environmental agency officials are on site measuring air quality, but no precise data on harmful substances is available yet. Meanwhile, the police have closed off nearby streets.
This incident marks the second such case in the past month. In mid-March, another scrap metal warehouse in Essen also caught fire. At the time, the police were investigating the possibility of arson. The cause of the new fire is still unknown.
