Overview
- Fatalities include an 88-year-old woman in Dortmund, a 64-year-old man in Petersaurach, and a woman in Vienna’s Alterlaa housing complex.
- Fire services mounted large operations, with about 60 responders at the Dortmund house fire and more than 200 at the Petersaurach blaze.
- Ingolstadt police opened a negligent arson case after a resident improperly set off a table fireworks device, and a Kellmünz house fire was traced to lit Advent-wreath candles.
- Harz police said arson cannot yet be ruled out in a Hasselfelde caravan fire and asked witnesses to come forward.
- Freezing temperatures hindered crews in Dortmund, while evacuations and rescues were reported elsewhere, including two cats saved in Wipperfürth and broader damage that left several homes uninhabitable.