Chemical reaction in car injures man and prompts evacuation in Neuruppin

A man was taken to hospital and about 20 residents were evacuated from an apartment building in Neuruppin, Germany, following a chemical incident involving swimming-pool cleaning products, according to Tagesspiegel, Stern and rbb24. Firefighters responded after liquid leaked inside a car and reacted with materials stored in the vehicle.

A fire service spokesperson said the man, aged around 50, had stored a pool-cleaning product incorrectly in his car. When he opened the vehicle, he encountered a cloud of acidic material and was injured. Tagesspiegel reported that the injuries were not considered minor, although officials had not provided a precise medical assessment.

The man had also carried a container of the product into the basement of an apartment building. As a precaution, firefighters evacuated about 20 people living there. Residents were temporarily accommodated in a nearby nursery building, according to the fire service account.

Emergency crews used an alkaline substance to neutralise the acid inside the car. The fire brigade then said that the immediate chemical danger had ended. No injuries among the evacuated residents were reported, and the supplied material does not identify further contamination outside the vehicle.

The incident illustrates a hazardous-material response triggered by a domestic cleaning product rather than an industrial spill. Firefighters were required to secure both the vehicle and the apartment building after the product was moved between the locations. The accounts do not establish whether any additional public restrictions remained after neutralisation.

The fire brigade said the escaped liquid had reacted with another material inside the car. A spokesperson described the resulting exposure as serious enough to require hospital treatment. The account did not identify the exact substances involved in the original reaction beyond the pool-cleaning product and acid created during the incident.

The evacuation was limited to residents of the apartment building where the man had taken a container, rather than a wider neighbourhood clearance. According to Tagesspiegel, none of those people was injured. Authorities did not report that the property had suffered lasting damage or that neighbouring buildings needed to be emptied.