Last Thursday, a major fire broke out in a warehouse at the ALPLA location on Sperenberger Strasse in Berlin. The cause has not yet been determined.
Reports say that there were no injuries and no casualties, nor were any harmful substances released. The building burned down completely. Due to the efforts of the Berlin emergency services, the next-door production and administration areas could be saved.
The fire broke out on Thursday around 16:30 and was completely extinguished on Friday morning. It started in the 3,000 square meter warehouse on Sperenberger Strasse and spread to another building, fed by the wood, cardboard and plastic at the site. Around 22:45, around 200 emergency services brought the fire under control.
The building and surrounding areas were immediately evacuated. Firefighters arrived on the scene promptly and were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjoining administration building and production facilities with machinery, which remained undamaged. According to the local authorities, no chemicals or toxic substances were released into the cloud of smoke during the fire.
The experts are currently examining the scene of the fire to determine its cause.
"We would like to thank you for the great effort, we are now evaluating the situation on site together with the crisis management team and will work closely with the investigating authorities to clarify as quickly as possible how the fire could have happened,” said Georg Pescher, Managing Director of ALPLA Germany. “Our teams are working flat out to secure production capacity.”
It is still unclear when production at the site will be able to be resumed.