"Lightning seeks the easiest way"

Created: 05/24/2022, 18:46

The storm reaches Dachau: On Monday evening, a thunderstorm passed over Dachau, but fortunately it did not cause any major damage.

© Christian Fischer

A lightning strike made a single-family home uninhabitable in Pipinsried on Monday.

The homeowner suffered smoke inhalation.

Pipinsried – The operation lasted a total of six and a half hours, involving 80 firefighters from all over the district and beyond.

Lightning strike in Pipinsried makes detached house uninhabitable

Around 8.30 a.m. a thunderstorm cell passed over Hilgertshausen-Tandern, a few kilometers north of Pipinsried.

It was exactly 8:37 a.m. when lightning struck the roof of the family home in Pipinsried.

"Of course, the probability of an impact at high points is higher than at low points," says weather expert Christian Fischer from Markt Indersdorf.

"But, as people noticed in Pipinsried, it doesn't necessarily have to be the highest point in the village."

The flames erupted from the attic.

© Altomünster Fire Department

Ultimately, the lightning looks for the easiest way to earth to discharge itself: "It can be a detached house, a power pole or even the hiker who runs across the open field." And again and again there are isolated lightning bolts that emit sideways punch out of the storm system and hit areas miles away from the actual storm.

On special weather maps, the single flash can be seen clearly outside the train track, according to the website www.kachelmannwetter.

com has a strength of 9 kiloamperes and is therefore a "loud banger".

The police did not know on Tuesday whether a lightning rod was installed on the house.

According to a police spokesman for the Oberbayern Nord police headquarters, the fire investigators from the criminal police have not yet been able to carry out any on-site investigations.

An emergency roof was pulled over the house with the help of the turntable ladder.

© Altomünster Fire Department

According to Maximilian Reimoser, district fire inspector of the district fire brigade association, a lightning conductor definitely contributes to safety and is generally recommended - even if lightning rarely strikes.

According to Reimoser, there are usually two reasons for doing without a lightning conductor: on the one hand, the cost factor, and on the other hand, a lightning conductor is difficult to anchor.

According to Reimoser, whether a lightning rod is necessary is a structural question: if a building is next to a higher house, for example, the lightning is more likely to strike the higher house.

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After the lightning strike on Monday morning, the roof truss caught fire, as reported.

A large cloud of smoke already showed the advancing firefighters the way to the scene.

When the first units arrived, the fire had already spread across the entire roof truss, and flames erupted.

The fire brigade forces entered the house from the inside via the turning tube of the turntable ladder from Altomünster and in parallel with teams wearing heavy respiratory protection.

The fire was brought under control within about 30 minutes, according to the district fire brigade association.

The roof skin of the house was opened with a tearing hook so that the fire brigade could locate hidden embers.

© Altomünster Fire Department

The post-extinguishing work lasted more than two hours.

The roof skin was opened with a so-called tear hook so that hidden embers in the roof structure could be localized and extinguished.

The clean-up work after the “fire out” turned out to be very time-consuming.

For this purpose, the THW Dachau and the swap body vehicle including roll-off container logistics from the disaster control center came to Pipinsried for support.

Part of the equipment in the attic was transported outside through a large roof skin opening, and then an “emergency roof” was pulled over the house with the help of the turntable ladder, which protects the open roof from the weather.

At around 3:45 p.m., after more than 6.5 hours, the last of the approximately 80 firefighters were able to leave.   

On Monday evening the next thunderstorm passed over Dachau, there was a lot of lightning.

Fortunately, these lightning bolts did not cause any major damage.

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