Oyten. A fire breaks out in a nursing home in Oyten, Lower Saxony. There are deaths; the number of seriously injured people continues to rise.
Two residents of a nursing and nursing home in Lower Saxony died in a fire in Oyten near Bremen. Three people were seriously injured in the fire that night, police said. Police initially did not report the total number of injuries.
The women killed were 95 and 89 years old. The cause of the fire was initially unknown. There is no evidence yet, a police spokesman said this morning. The building cannot yet be accessed. The investigation began last night and was scheduled to continue on Thursday.
An employee at the facility discovered smoke shortly after midnight. She called 911 and woke up more than 60 people living in the house. As a fire department spokesperson said that night, residents were evacuated from the home. More than 100 firefighters extinguished the flames and prevented the fire from spreading. Additional helpers and emergency doctors were also on duty.
A DPA reporter reported at the scene that the windows of the nursing home and nursing home were broken. The entrance to the building was cordoned off with red and white tape. Investigators captured the scene of the fire. Signs of fire were visible in the building’s windows.
It’s not an isolated case
Fires repeatedly occur in nursing homes that kill or injure people: in May, an 82-year-old woman died because a fire broke out in a nursing home and nursing home in Göttingen. An 85-year-old resident suffered serious burns.
In March this year, four residents died in Bedburg-Hau in North Rhine-Westphalia, close to the border with the Netherlands, when a nursing home caught fire. More than 20 people were injured. The Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a formal investigation against a resident. He is suspected of causing the fire through negligence. In January, several people were injured in a fire at a nursing home in Schwerin, two of them seriously.
German Foundation for Patient Protection: Fire protection is not enough
According to the Dortmund-based German Patient Protection Foundation, twelve people have died in fires in nursing homes this year. The number of injuries increased by 50% compared to the same period last year. It is obvious that the rules for preventive fire protection in facilities are not sufficient, said foundation board member Eugen Brysch when asked by dpa.
“Independent extinguishing systems must be the legal standard in all patient and staff rooms,” demanded Brysch. Fires and combustion gases could be detected and combated at an early stage. Federal and state ministers of construction and health are called upon to set priorities when it comes to fire protection. Residents of the facility are often immobile and are unable to leave the danger zone without help. People who sleep also do not smell the smoke.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240606-99-294229/5 (dpa)