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Germany Confronts Deadly Holiday Fires as Berlin Tightens New Year’s Fireworks Rules

Investigations continue nationwide, with Berlin imposing New Year’s Eve fireworks and weapons bans to curb year-end risks.

Overview

  • Criminal investigators examined a Breitenberg farm blaze that left damage in the lower seven figures, killed about 25 chickens and three rabbits, and spared the four-person family.
  • Residential fires claimed lives in two states, with an 85-year-old man dying in Landsberg am Lech and an 82-year-old reported dead in Thalheim, and a separate Berlin-Halensee apartment fire left one person in life-threatening condition.
  • A barn complex at Dresden-Weißig’s children’s and youth farm burned on Christmas Eve, drawing roughly 135 firefighters and triggering smoke alerts, with all animals reported safe.
  • Police attributed a large Christmas-night fire at a Steinheim industrial site to a technical defect after a deflagration, deploying 188 emergency personnel and reporting no injuries.
  • Berlin issued an Allgemeinverfügung setting fireworks and weapons ban zones for New Year’s Eve in central areas including the Brandenburg Gate, as LKA specialists investigate a Staaken balcony fire after two minors were identified.