Overview

• Fire broke out in a cellar compartment of a multi-family building on Südstraße early Thursday, triggering a large emergency response.
• Twenty-five residents, including seven children, were evacuated, with 13 people rescued via aerial and portable ladders as smoke filled the stairwell.
• A witness reported a loud bang before heavy smoke, and the fire was extinguished around 7:00 a.m. with the street reopened at about 9:20 a.m.
• Firefighters from Zittau, Hartau and Eichgraben worked with police and medical services, and a cat was also rescued from the building.
• Damage is preliminarily estimated at about €20,000, and the cause remains under forensic examination as the arson probe proceeds.