Patio heater dispute: judgment made - fire brigade wins 

Created: 2022-02-18Updated: 2022-02-18, 5:42 p.m

By: Stefanie Zipfer

The verdict in the patio heater dispute has fallen.

© Daniel Karmann/dpa/archive image

Four years ago, a visitor to the fire brigade ball was seriously injured through no fault of her own.

The Dachau fire department was then sued.

Now the verdict has come.

Dachau – The stone that fell from his heart on Thursday was "huge", reports Stefan Fichtl.

The 12th civil division of the Munich II Regional Court had just ruled that the Dachau fire brigade was not responsible for a serious accident that occurred on February 4, 2018 during the fire brigade carnival ball in the Thomahaus.

Controversy over patio heater: verdict made - fire brigade wins

At the time of the accident, Fichtl was still chairman of the fire service, and he was responsible for most of the four-year legal dispute.

Why did he never give in and agree to a comparison with the plaintiff?

"Because I am deeply convinced that we have done everything to ensure that our guests have a safe visit to the ball.

We couldn't have done more than we did." In the end, everyone simply has to deal with a certain "risk of life" - even if, as Fichtl admits, "it's obviously not nice that a girl hurt herself at our ball Has".

Patio heater falls over: Dachauern seriously injured – is the fire brigade to blame?

In fact, a young woman from Dachau had seriously injured herself during "Floriani's 1001st Night": The student had been hit by a patio heater in the smoking area in front of the Thomahaus, which a presumably drunk ball visitor had knocked over.

The at least 24 kilo heavy, red hot part burned the skin on the left upper arm of the young woman.

Her lawyer Peter Bürgel argued that the patio heater should not have been placed on the slightly sloping site and that the mushroom was not suitable for this type of event.

Since the fire brigade had violated their duty to ensure traffic safety, Bürgel - as a former mayor and former employer of the Dachauer Wehr - demanded compensation of 7,000 euros.

The fire brigade, however, rejected this request and any attempt by judge Dr.

Agnes Winkler strictly in the direction of an amicable agreement, "I want a judgment on the matter," Fichtl always emphasized.

And two years ago, he also announced to the local newspaper that in the event of a legal defeat, the defense would say: "We're not going to play a ball anymore."

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Munich administrative court: Dachau fire brigade not responsible for injury

However, after several, sometimes emotionally conducted days of negotiations, six witnesses and the obtaining of an expert report, the administrative court stated that the fire brigade had taken "all necessary measures to bring about and maintain a sufficiently safe condition of the event site for the user".

And: "Not every danger has to be warded off and controlled, since complete protection is not possible."

The court did not see the fact that the fire department had used radiant heaters as a breach of duty, as these were “common in the catering industry”.

And that the radiant heaters "had been set up crookedly and shakily on a sloping site, the plaintiff could not prove here".

Florian Reiter, Fichtl's successor at the head of the fire brigade since the summer, sees the verdict as "a good signal for all clubs".

A defeat in court would have "extremely weakened volunteering, not only in our club".

Nevertheless, he also admits that the four-year process has left its mark.

After verdict: Dachau fire brigade relieved

The sometimes serious allegations from the other side "hit us personally, but also hard as an organization.

That gnawed".

Fichtl becomes clearer when he says: "Personally, I just didn't understand how the lawyer for the other side, who had attended our ball for years and used our smoking area, claimed in court that it was all so dangerous!"

According to Florian Reiter, all members were 100 percent behind Fichtl's line, not to agree to an amicable agreement, simply because of the occasional sharpness of the dispute.

"We have said unanimously: We will pursue this until the end of the day!" It is not yet known whether the plaintiff sees it the same way.

Her lawyer Peter Bürgel explains when asked that the question of an appeal is "still open".

Fire brigade spokesman Wolfgang Reichelt, meanwhile, promises with a view to a possible fire brigade ball in 2023 that the verdict is “not a license” for the fire brigade to hold “carefree” events.

However, it shows that if you "work properly like we do, have a fire protection, seating and security concept, if you take everything into account, then you can celebrate again"!

More current news from the district of Dachau can be found here.