A fire broke out in a recycling center in Berlin. Thick smoke drifts over the city. © Emmanuele Contini/Imago
A huge fire breaks out in a recycling center in Berlin's Neukölln district. A dense column of smoke drifts over the city. The population is warned.
Berlin – A fire broke out near the A100 motorway in Berlin-Neukölln on Wednesday evening (31 May) in a recycling centre. As a fire brigade spokesman told the Tagesspiegel.de, it was a major fire in a hall of the Wertstoff Union Berlin (WUB). Emergency services were deployed with more than 120 people. A huge cloud of black smoke can be seen over the city.
Major fire in Berlin: Civil protection warns of smoke pollution
Around 5000 square meters were affected. "Firefighting and extinguishing measures will take several more hours," the spokesman said. The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance warned of the major fire by SMS. It burns "in a warehouse for paper waste," it says on the website of the Federal Office. There is a considerable "smoke and odor pollution".
The Berlin fire brigade called on Twitter to avoid the area around the recycling center in the Neukölln district. The cause of the fire is still unclear. (asc)