Church fire in Poing: the police name the cause and know who caused it - it is unclear who has to pay for the damage

Created: 07/11/2022, 15:45

By: Armin Roesl

Some tiles were destroyed in the fire on the east facade.

© Johannes Dziemballa

According to the police, the fire at Poing's parish church was caused by flying sparks.

Created when burning weeds.

The suspected culprit has been identified.

Poing – Only two hours after the fire broke out on the facade of Poing's parish church Seliger Rupert Mayer, the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North in Ingolstadt published a first indication of the cause of the fire on Friday: "Currently, negligent action in connection with the destruction of weeds is assumed." On Monday, Michael Graf from the press office of the Oberbayern Nord police headquarters in Ingolstadt told our newspaper: "The fire was most likely caused by flying sparks." This in turn was caused by a gas flame that was used to burn weeds at the church .

The perpetrator was known from the beginning of the investigation – “a man working part-time for the church”.

The broken part of the facade looks like a broken teeth.

© Private

Hendrik Steffens from the press office of the Archbishop's Office in Munich also answered a question on Monday about the extent of the damage and who has to pay for it.

This depends on the outcome of the police investigation.

It is also not yet possible to say how high the amount of damage is: "The assessment of the damage by experts with the necessary expertise has not yet been completed." After an initial assessment, it should be a high six-digit euro amount, it said on Friday in the first police report from Ingolstadt.

Around 1 p.m. on Friday, the small piece of wooden facade of the side entrance doors on the east side of the church caught fire.

The flames shot up and damaged some of the white ceramic tiles.

The façade of the parish church consists of a total of around 15,000 tiles specially made for this building.

Speaking to our newspaper on Friday, parish clerk Werner Lawes said the parish has about 20 replacement tiles.

It is not yet possible to say whether these will be sufficient.

When asked how the facade at the site of the fire will be renewed, Ordinariate spokesman Steffens replied: "The parish will decide on this in coordination with the insurance companies involved after an expert opinion on the damage is available."

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.

Church operations were not disrupted by the damage.

On Sunday the festival service for the 100+1.

Birthday of the soldiers and comradeship club are celebrated.

The parade on Sunday for the anniversary celebration of the soldiers and comradeship club led past the broken facade.

© Johannes Dziemballa

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The parish church of Sel.

Rupert Mayer was opened and dedicated in June 2018.

The architecture has received several awards, including the most beautiful modern church building in the world.

This cost the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising around 14.6 million euros.

The opening was delayed by eight months because the facade construction company at the time (which was responsible for the tiles) had filed for bankruptcy.

634 pieces were still missing for completion, these were manufactured a few weeks later by a replacement company.

You can find more current news from the district of Ebersberg at Merkur.de/Ebersberg.