Overview
- A series of deliberate fires overnight Friday into Saturday damaged school property and nearby sites in Essen-Norden with no reported injuries.
- Firefighters were first called around 00:34 to a burning shopping cart in a discounter parking lot on Gladbecker Straße before attending two larger blazes at schoolyards.
- At Gertrud-Bäumer-Realschule several trash containers were set alight and the building’s external insulation was damaged, recalling major repairs the school completed in February 2026 after a 2025 water incident.
- At Leibniz-Gymnasium burning containers spread flames roughly four by twenty metres onto a pavilion that was heavily damaged and caused cracked windows and smoke in the adjacent gym; the pavilion is due to be replaced by a planned extension.
- Police have opened investigations into all incidents and emergency crews secured the sites while school leaders were unavailable over the weekend so it remains unclear if the damage will affect the September 2 school opening.