Kehlsteinhaus Fire Flares Up Again at Obersalzberg

A fire flared up again overnight on Sunday at the historic Kehlsteinhaus on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, after a major blaze had already been put out, DW reports.

A police officer said it "burned at room height once more", and the fire brigade went out and extinguished the flames. He said it is not unusual for a fire to flare up again from pockets of embers after the actual blaze.

How the fire started

The major fire broke out at the Kehlsteinhaus, which stands more than 1,800 metres high, in the night to Saturday. According to the Upper Bavaria South police headquarters in Rosenheim, a smoke detector in the building set off a fire alarm on Friday evening at about 21:15. Arriving fire brigades saw high flames, and on site found the "full blaze of the building". The flames had "largely destroyed" it.

About 200 rescue and emergency workers from the fire service, the Red Cross, the police and the mountain rescue service were deployed. The damage is estimated at millions by the Berchtesgaden mountain-experience association, the Zweckverband Bergerlebnis Berchtesgaden.

Suspect detained

Officers arrested a 33-year-old suspect who was provisionally committed to a psychiatric hospital because of a suspected mental illness. The prosecutor's office said on Saturday that possible political motives are being examined. According to investigators, the man was stopped on a motorcycle by emergency crews immediately after the fire broke out on Friday evening.

The Kehlsteinhaus, built in 1937/38 near Berchtesgaden, was part of the so-called Führer exclusion zone on the Obersalzberg and was meant to serve Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler as a representative building. It has been used as a restaurant since 1952.

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