After a devastating fire at the gym: the police assume negligent arson

Created: 07/07/2022, 18:04

By: Peter Reinbold

After the devastating fire at a secondary school in Murnau, the wooden facade of the gym was completely gone.

© Lory

The fire at a secondary school in Murnau caused a lot of property damage.

Now the question arises as to the cause.

Was it a gas burner?

Murnau – There is a pile of charred boards on the square in front of the gymnasium of the Murnau Realschule, it still smells of smoke, the facade makes a badly battered impression.

The fire that raged on the wooden cladding of the building early on Wednesday afternoon, July 6th, left clear traces.

Murnau: Gym in flames - high property damage

Although the school had to be evacuated, the four people, including a student aged 14 and a teacher, who were treated as outpatients by the emergency services at the scene because they had inhaled smoke gases or were slightly in shock are well.

According to the police, the man who had been taken to the Murnau accident clinic as a precaution was also able to leave the hospital on Wednesday.

"I'm glad no one was hurt," says school director Ralf Havelka.

The material damage is considerable, however, opinions and estimates differ about the amount.

While the police estimate the amount needed to restore the gym at 50,000 euros, Havelka assumes a significantly higher amount.

"I expect around 100,000 euros." Murnau's police chief Joachim Loy made a similar statement on Wednesday.

According to Havelka's knowledge, not only the facade is affected, but also a ventilation pipe.

The district office of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the school's material expenses, is keeping a low profile.

"We don't yet have any information on the extent of the damage," said spokesman Stephan Scharf.

(Our GAP newsletter keeps you up to date with all the important stories from your region. Sign up here.)

Devastating fire at the Murnau gymnasium: police with the first results

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen Criminal Police Office, which is conducting the investigation, can already provide initial results on the cause of the fire.

She assumes negligent arson.

"The cause may have been the burning of weeds with a gas burner, which apparently led to sparks spreading to the wooden paneling of the gym," said a spokesman for the police headquarters in Oberbayern Süd, which is based in Rosenheim.

According to the police, the work is said to have been carried out by the caretaker of the secondary school.

Neither the district office nor the headmaster Havelka wanted to comment on this.

The gym will soon be usable again – but who is liable for the damage?

Physical education is currently not possible in the gym.

The district office expects that “according to the current status” in the hall itself, normal physical education classes will take place again next week, while according to Scharf, the changing rooms will probably only be used to a limited extent at first.

However, this is no more than a forecast.

"A more detailed technical examination of the hall has not yet taken place," explains Scharf.

The damaged parts of the building are to be removed soon, but reconstruction is likely to take longer.

"It could well take until the end of the year," says Scharf.

also read

"Real state of neglect": House Hohenleitner is demolished

Train accident near Garmisch: Explosive research revealed – employees wrote a fire letter

The question that remains to be answered is who is liable for the damage?

The district office is currently determining to what extent the building insurance or another insurance company will cover the damage.

"That probably also depends on the results of the police investigation into the cause of the fire," says Scharf.

You can find more current news from the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen at Merkur.de/Garmisch-Partenkirchen.