Baar,16.01.2009
Baar fire
Due to the fire on the Dorfstrasse in Baar six persons had to be evacuated. Not all are shocked.
Express:
- The old house is no longer habitable after the fire
- Four of the homeless are in the Hotel Ibis until further notice
- The few belongings in their rooms are covered in soot and smell of smoke
“That was cool.”
Fiorenzo Triggianese, one of the persons made homeless by the fire.
The soot still sticks to his fingers. “The few possessions I had are gone now”, says Fiorenzo Triggianese. The construction worker is currently unemployed. He wanted to fight the fire which broke out in a room on the first floor on Wednesday evening on the Dorfstrasse 5a. With a fire extinguisher. In vain. “First I entered the room to check whether the young man living in the room was already asleep. But he wasn’t there. Since the flames were already pouring out from behind the door, and thick smoke was billowing, the fire extinguisher was useless.” “Together with the other inhabitants we fled outside”.
” Praise for the municipality and the fire-brigade
The 36-year old enthusiastically praised the rescue squad. “Hats off to the fast intervention of the fire-brigade and the prompt assistance by the municipality”, says a thankful Triggianese. Even local councilman Paul Langenegger was there: “That was cool.” Langenegger later accompanied the four fire victims to the Hotel Ibis, their temporary lodging until further notice. Two additional of the total of six inhabitants of the house arranged for their own accommodation. The house was an emergency lodging for welfare recipients. The municipality of Baar are covering the cost of the hotel for the four. Momentarily the young man sits in the breakfast room at the Hotel Ibis and contemplates, where he will eat lunch at noon. And when he will be able to put on clean clothes. “Almost everything we had is in that burned house”. Next to him squats Jean Weber. The 58-year old is “doing fine because I was not injured and did everything right”. Thanks to his good nose he smelled the smoke upstairs in the common kitchen on the third floor around 8 p.m. “If we had been sleeping we probably all would have died in the fire”. No one was injured in the fire. “I was upstairs in the common kitchen together with an older lady” he tells “who is also one of the inhabitants of the house” The mentioned older lady sits also at the breakfast bar drinking a coffee after a sleepless night and stares blankly. “We lived there like in a WG”, says Jean Weber. It was Weber who also called the fire department emergency number 118.
Cause of fire is still unclear
The cause of the fire is still not clear according to the Zuger police. A charred mattress lays in front of the house, officials from the criminal-technical unit of the police are investigating the cause of the fire. Was it a short-circuit or a glowing cigarette? The room concerned is in any case completey destroyed. A pile of melted mass is all that remains of a stereo system
House is to be renovated
When the six evacuated will again have their own lodging is unclear. According to the Baar town clerk Walter Lipp the house should be made inhabitable as soon as possible, but it could take some time. “Until then, the six inhabitants are homeless in any case.”
(picture: Jean Weber (left) and Fiorenzo Triggianese)
Source/Media Partner: Neue Zuger Zeitung