Wildfire overwhelms Hamburg City

Emmanuel Thomas, with DPA reports I Monday, April 10, 2023

HAMBURG – Some 27 hours after it started, a wildfire that destroyed several warehouses and covered the port city of Hamburg with black smoke has still not been extinguished.

Some 27 hours after it started, a wildfire that destroyed several warehouses and covered the port city of Hamburg with black smoke has still not been extinguished, a police spokesman said on Monday.

Operations to put out the blaze are expected to continue throughout Monday, he said.

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The cause of the fire and the value of property damaged remain unknown, the spokesman said. There were no casualties in the blaze.

Early on Sunday, a warehouse complex of a car dealer in the Rothenburgsort district on the Elbe river, caught fire after a blaze initially ignited on vehicles, washing machines and other stored goods outside.

Several so-called intermediate bulk containers (IBC) containers that held flammable liquids then burst into flames.

The enormous smoke cloud generated from the blaze drifted toward Hamburg’s city centre and covered the city with a black cloud, prompting warnings from local authorities about the fumes. Local and long-distance traffic in the east of the city was restricted for several hours.