One fireman taken to hospital

One firemen had to be taken to hospital for treatment after fighting a major fire which broke out at the former main branch of the Zuger Kantonalbank on Postplatz on Thursday evening.
 
Two other fireman also had to be treated at the scene after the fire started on the premises which have been undergoing extensive renovation for some time.
 
It was at around 7.15 pm on Thursday evening that a plume of black smoke was seen emanating from the roof of the bank. Within a short period of time no fewer than 200 firemen, not only from Zug but also from Baar, Neuheim, Risch were in attendance, with others from Cham and Hünenberg on standby. Two firemen of the Zug Voluntary Fire Brigade (FFZ) used hoses from the top of an extendable ladder to spray water onto the flames coming from roof of the building.
 
Helping, too, were some two dozen ambulance staff, including some from Zurich and Lucerne, who tended to the exhausted firemen.
 
Crowds of several hundreds began to gather to watch in the Vorstadt and Postplatz areas but some 20-25 police were in attendance and cordoned off a wide area. Even restaurants on Landsgemeindeplatz had to be evacuated as a precaution.
 
Not unsurprisingly, traffic flow in the city centre was badly affected with no buses able to pass by the scene. People wanting to travel from Zug to the Aegeri Valley or Menzingen had to go via Baar. In fact it was as if the city had practically been cut in two as a result of the fire. Some people were anxious as they had parked their cars in an area which had subsequently been cordoned off. Others even began to walk along the embankment of the nearby suburban railway, as a result of which the SBB instructed their train drivers to slow down to walking pace in the interests of safety.
 
Even as late as 11.10 pm, Daniel Jauch, the superintendant of the Zug Voluntary Fire Brigade, said that the fire was still not under control. "None of us has been able to gain access to the building directly as there is a danger of parts of it collapsing."
 
Pascal Niquille, the head of the Zuger Kantonalbank was also at the scene. "The most important thing is that no one was inside the building at the time," he said.
 
One of the safer vantage points to watch all that was going on was the nearby Guggihügel recreation ground and barbecue area which is on a small hill. One youngster, in his youthful nonchalance, said, "It is nice to be able to grill up here and watch the flames from the roof of the bank at the same time." Another woman used her mobile phone to phone home to make sure all the windows were closed as the smoke began to drift across where she lived.
 
This particular branch of the Zuger Kantonalbank was designed by renowned architects Alfons Wiederkehr and Leo Hafner in the Fifties and is a listed building as far as the façade is concerned. As mentioned, over the past few months the interior has been totally gutted for renovation.