Huge column of smoke on the Kochelsee: fire destroys picturesque huts - burning boats float in the water
Created: 03/29/2022, 09:49 am
By: Andreas Steppan, Felicitas Bogner
Three boat huts burned down on Lake Kochel on Saturday.
© Fire Department Kochel am See
At the Kochelsee near Schlehdorf, three picturesque boathouses were engulfed in flames.
The fire brigade extinguished the fire from land and water.
The police are investigating the cause.
+++ Update from March 28, 7 p.m. +++
Schlehdorf
- As reported, picturesque boat huts in the Kochelsee near Schlehdorf burned down at the weekend.
When asked by our newspaper, the police announced that there was no information about the cause of the fire at this point in time.
This could also take quite a while, says Alexander Huber from the press office of the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South.
The Weilheim criminal police have been investigating since Saturday.
“Investigations into the causes of the fire are based on the principle of exclusion.
In other words, possible causes are targeted in order to then definitely rule them out as a result of various investigations - or not," explains Huber.
Fire in the boat huts on Lake Kochel: Investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing
Stefan Jocher, Mayor of Schlehdorf, is shocked.
"It's a significant loss for the townscape," he says.
He noticed the fire when he looked out the window at home.
"Suddenly there was a large column of smoke over the lake," he reports.
He drove off immediately, "but there was nothing more that could be done."
The huts were a popular postcard and photo motif.
If you enter the keyword “Schlehdorf” on the Instagram internet photo platform, one picture with the hut motif follows the next.
“The huts have been there forever.
I assume that they were built immediately after the war,” Jocher speculates.
Huts were symbols of Schlehdorf and a popular photo motif
The fire hits the owners much worse.
The three huts would belong to ten private individuals, who stored their ten boats there, says Jocher.
As reported, the rowing and sailing boats in the shelters could no longer be saved.
According to initial estimates, the total damage was in the six-figure range.
Boat huts did not have fire protection insurance
"It wasn't insured either," says the mayor.
Because: “Who insures a hut on the water against fire?” He does not know whether the owners will rebuild the huts.
"A reconstruction would of course be very nice, and the community would also support the project with their funds," he says.
"However, we cannot help financially, since municipalities are not allowed to support private building projects with funds," explains the head of the town hall.
“So it would be very expensive to rebuild the huts.
In the end, everything was destroyed except for the foundation.” Jocher knows that the foundation, on the other hand, was made of concrete in the lake.
Schlehdorf
– The contrast could hardly be greater: Against an idyllic backdrop, a picture of the destruction presented itself on Saturday in the Schlehdorf community area.
Three picturesque boat huts on the banks of the Kochelsee burned down completely.
Nothing could be saved from the rowing and sailing boats in it either, as the press office of the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South reports.
Fire at the Kochelsee: High column of smoke visible from afar
The Kochel am See fire brigade, which – like the Schlehdorf fire brigade – arrived with several vehicles, describes the operation on their Facebook page.
The alarm was received at 2:07 p.m.
"As soon as we arrived, the high column of smoke showed us the way," it says.
When the first forces arrived, the three boat huts were already on fire.
By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.
The mission turned out to be anything but ordinary.
Because it had to be extinguished both from land and from water.
From the shore, the emergency services fought the flames with several steel pipes, the fire brigade describes.
In addition, the multi-purpose boat was loaded with a portable pump to contain the fire from the lake.
Boat hut fire on the Kochelsee causes high damage
Another challenge: Burning flotsam was floating in the water, which could have ignited the surrounding reeds.
The fire brigade extinguished these pieces of wood on the lake.
"The rowing boats stored in the boat huts also fell victim to the flames and drifted on the lake burning without a leader," writes the fire department.
The fire brigade was able to salvage larger flotsam and bring it ashore.
According to the police, no one was injured in the fire.
However, the property damage is considerable.
Officials estimate it's in the six-figure range.
It is still unclear what caused the fire.
"Statements on the cause of the fire cannot be made at this time," the police said.
What caused fires in boat huts in Schlehdorf?
The first on-site investigations were carried out by the permanent criminal service of the Weilheim criminal police.
Further investigations are now being carried out by the fire investigators of Specialist Commissariat 1 under the direction of the public prosecutor's office.
Witnesses are asked to contact the police in Weilheim on 0881/640-0.
You can find even more current news from the region around at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.