Saturday morning, 9 am, Bahnhofplatz Zurich: a man stands in front of a red-white cordon tape and discusses with the policeman, who stands there with his legs wide legs. It is the morning after the big fire in the building complex of Du Pont. The entire station square is closed over a large area. The Coop in Globus provisionally: closed. Part of the store is blocked as well as the surrounding streets.
The man who is discussing is a doctor, his practice is in the same complex as the burnt house. "I actually wanted to know if we had any damage," he says. It is an insured high amount. The policeman kindly and decisively rejects him.
The doctor goes on, but has to accept on the next closed road: today he will not get ahead. The burnt house threatens to collapse; the rescue teams still can not say when the surrounding houses can be re-entered.
The fire could be seen throughout the city: fire at Zurich's main station. (Video: Tamedia)
Like the doctor, Coiffure Damaris Obi is also involved. She stands in front of the cordon tape at the Bahnhofstrasse and looks forward to customers. The Salon Salzmann, where she works, is also located in the same building complex. "Unfortunately my colleague could not reach all people who have an appointment today," she says. Now she hopes to discover familiar faces among passersby.
Hotel guests wanted to check out
Meanwhile, many spectators populate the streets. He had heard of the fire, says a passerby, and wanted to get a picture of the damage. «Huere blatant», two young people find the downfall. The view from the Central over the Limmat shows us what it looked like at night. The meter-high flames and especially two violent explosions were so frightening that individual guests were anxious to check out, says the receptionist of a hotel on the Limmat.
The explosions were so violent. (Video: Tamedia / Reader Reporter)
Although the fire was under control in the early morning. But the smoke is still rising, there is a slight smell of fire in the air. The roof has completely collapsed where the flames burst most, only the stone frames are still, meaningless and useless, they rise to the gray morning air.
Firefighters inject water into the ruins; others inspect the damage of a lifesaver. In silence a drone floats above the fireplace.
Heat curves scaffolding
The fire, as far as is known, did not harm anyone, but a policeman suffered a hearing trauma during the explosions. The house is currently being rebuilt. The jetty was damaged, the upper part arched towards the interior of the house. What is certain is that the material damage to the buildings along the quay of the station is immense; the fire must have developed a tremendous heat.
Whether this also led to damage to the other buildings on Bahnhofplatz, Beatenplatz and Waisenhausstrasse, which are arranged around a courtyard around and are assembled with the burned house, which now has to clarify an architectural engineer.
Public traffic around the Bahnhofplatz also came to a standstill. So luckily the house burned in the night from Friday to Saturday. Bahnhofplatz is the main tram hub of Zurich; On a working day, a complete closure would have led to a huge traffic chaos.
Everywhere there are policemen who repeatedly make the same statements with angelic patience, explain to passersby how they go from here to where they can drive with those trams. The people on the road now carry the limitations and the marches they are forced to do, usually with calm. Only two recruits swear loudly: the McDonalds on the station square is closed.
"Wreck flew 200 meters": police spokesman Marco Cortesi above the fire at the main station. (Video: SDA) (Tages-Anzeiger)
Created: 25.08.2018, 12:30
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