Overview
- In Essen, a basement fire on Altenessener Straße shortly after 1 a.m. sent thick smoke through a stairwell, prompted evacuations, and left the building temporarily uninhabitable with power shut off.
- The Essen call capped a sequence of fires between 12:29 a.m. and 2:45 a.m. in the city’s north, and twelve people were placed in emergency accommodation while detectives began cause investigations.
- Police in Essen reported early signs of deliberate ignition but have not confirmed any connections among the multiple incidents reported overnight.
- In Gelsenkirchen, a bedroom fire reported at 10:15 p.m. Saturday left one person dead, with another rescued and hospitalized and five others treated for suspected smoke inhalation at the scene; the cause remains under investigation.
- In Brekendorf on Friday evening, a single-family home was destroyed and an eight-member family was displaced, with one woman hospitalized for smoke inhalation and a firefighter sustaining a minor hand injury as crews shuttled water from a source two kilometers away.