On Monday evening, residents of the Fulachstrasse neighbourhood in Schaffhausen saw the sky lit up. By the time the fire brigade arrived, the agricultural building next to the goods station was already fully ablaze. The flames had spread so quickly that there was nothing that could be done to save the building: the priority was to prevent the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties. They largely succeeded in this, although some adjacent buildings did sustain damage.
Four firefighters were injured and had to be taken to hospital. Two explosions were heard during the fire. No one yet knows what caused them: the cantonal police have launched an investigation and, as yet, there is no estimate of the damage.
The cause of the fire is also unclear. In such cases, the procedures in Switzerland are meticulous: the technical investigation may take weeks before it is established exactly what happened. What is clear, however, is that the emergency response caused significant disruption to traffic in the area.
Four firefighters injured during a night shift. It’s the sort of news story that reminds us that there are people who go out to put out fires that others failed to control.