Big fire in a library in the town of Weißenburg
A fire in a library in the town of Weißenburg caused property damage amounting to millions of Euros. Both the effective operation of the fire fighters and the use of a flexible fire protection closure prevented further damage to adjacent buildings.
Claims Balance
The house, built in the heart of the old town in 1787, was destroyed in an inferno of flames in the summer of 2008. A flat on the first floor of the library building was also destroyed by the fire. After the fire, the property damage amounted up to 1 million Euros.
Prevention of fire spreading
Besides the extinguishing of the fire the main focus of the fire fighters was on saving two adjacent buildings in the neighbourhood. The flames threatened to spread to a barber shop and a museum café. This situation was particularly precarious as the burning library was directly connected through a wall opening to the adjacent building. This was the greatest danger of the fire spreading.
However, in September of 2005 the flexible fire protection closure “Fibershield” by Stöbich was installed into this wall opening. Therefore, a fire spreading to the adjacent building could be prevented successfully. In addition, this system helped the fire fighters to minimize the extent of damage. An eyewitness described the situation as follows: Despite the damage caused by the fire in the library, we were able to have coffee again on the other side of the curtain a few days later.
