Not Quite Confidence Boost

International Herald Tribune

January 13, 2009

GERMANY – Police say flames have torn through a firehouse in a north German town causing damage of €3 million ($4 million).

The fire broke out at 4:30 a.m. Sunday in the town of Syke and destroyed six fire trucks.

Authorities say the cause is not yet known and is under investigation.

Editor’s note: The Austrian Times reports that the group of firefighters have been branded the world’s worst after their own fire station burned to the ground.

All six of the station’s fire engines perished in the blaze in Syke and it took 250 fireman from neighboring towns to finally get the inferno under control.

Investigators believe the firemen could have triggered the blaze themselves in a training exercise accident or that faulty wiring was to blame, according to reports in the Austrian Times.

The weekend blaze was the second time the brigade has lost all its engines in a fire. The station was rebuilt in 1994 after being gutted by a fire.

One local said: “A fire service that can’t keep its own fire station and engines safe doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”

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