Overview
- About 170 firefighters from Osterode and neighboring towns contained the blaze and protected adjacent buildings.
- Witnesses alerted authorities around 4:50 a.m., and crews had the fire extinguished by late morning.
- Heavy smoke prompted stay-indoors advisories as nearby houses were temporarily evacuated.
- The supermarket’s roof collapsed during suppression efforts, complicating operations.
- A rail line toward Braunschweig was closed for roughly two hours to secure water, and heat damaged windows at a neighboring vocational school.