Fire at Bonn-Tannenbusch high-rise injures 3, forces residents from homes

A fire swept through a seven-storey residential block in Bonn's Tannenbusch district on Sunday afternoon, injuring 3 people, WDR reported. The blaze broke out inside the building and spread across its rear facade, climbing as far as the fifth floor before firefighters brought it under control.

Two small children suffered smoke-gas poisoning during the fire and were taken to hospital for treatment, WDR said. A third person was also injured after jumping from an upper floor in an apparent attempt to escape the flames. All 3 people hurt in the fire suffered light injuries, according to WDR and Bundespolizei Presse.

Several residents called the fire brigade after spotting smoke and flames rising from the building, WDR reported. More than 100 firefighters and rescue workers from the fire brigade and ambulance service were sent to the scene to tackle the blaze and assist residents.

Crews remained at the building well into the late afternoon as they worked to fully extinguish the fire and check the structure for further danger, WDR said. The building in Tannenbusch houses 28 separate flats and a total of 72 residents.

Many of those flats are now uninhabitable because of fire and smoke damage, and the city of Bonn is organising alternative accommodation for the people who have been displaced, according to WDR. Police have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire, though no findings had been made public as of Monday morning.

The exact circumstances in which the fire started, and whether it began on a lower floor before spreading upward along the rear of the building, were not detailed in the available reports.