Overview
- Roughly 45,000 households across Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee and Lichterfelde lost electricity, disrupting local trains, shops, schools and hospitals.
- A group calling itself Vulkangruppe said it targeted the fossil-fuel economy, and Germany’s domestic intelligence service is checking the authenticity of the claim.
- Some officials have floated potential foreign involvement in this and a prior case, though investigators have not verified any link.
- Emergency services with army and charity support opened shelters and moved vulnerable residents, with about 14,500 households reconnected by Monday and full restoration projected by Thursday.
- The fire follows a similar sabotage on pylons in September, intensifying concern over grid security, while separate reports flagged unverified risks to certain heat pumps during prolonged outages.