Power outage in Treptow-Köpenick: Fire brigade solves crisis situation!

Power outage in Treptow-Köpenick: Fire brigade solves crisis situation!

There was a massive power outage in the Treptow-Köpenick district of Berlin on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, affecting around 50,000 households and commercial customers. As n-tv.de reports, the night was “largely quiet” for the fire brigade from the perspective of the emergency services. Aid organizations and volunteer fire departments were available to ensure safety and constant accessibility.

The power outage was caused by an arson attack on two power pylons, in which fire accelerants were used. [rbb24.de]. A suspected letter of responsibility on a left-wing radical platform named the Adlershof Technology Park as one of the targets.

Consequences of the power outage

On Tuesday morning, around 20,000 customers were still without energy supply, which lasted longer than the major power outage in Köpenick in 2019, which affected 30,000 households for over 30 hours. The current incident is particularly demanding on the local infrastructure, as schools, daycare centers and a total of over ten care facilities also had to be evacuated. According to tagesschau.de, some of the emergency numbers, such as 110 and 112, were sometimes unavailable, which made the situation even more difficult.

District mayor Oliver Igel (SPD) reported few emergencies during the night and encouraged citizens to use up to 15 emergency locations where they can receive help and make emergency calls. Support offers are provided by the district office, so that local help can be counted on even in this difficult situation.

Reactions and outlook

Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) strongly condemned the attack. Spranger emphasized that no hospital was affected, but that the situation was dramatic enough to require the attention of the city and the security forces. Mobilized police and fire service contact points are intended to ensure that emergency management functions smoothly. Wista Management GmbH confirmed different impacts on companies in the technology park, where the power outage also caused additional difficulties.

Repair work on the damaged power lines is expected to last until Thursday morning. In the meantime, the provision of important services in Treptow-Köpenick remains a challenge. It remains to be seen whether and how quickly the situation will stabilize. Citizens are asked to contact the mobile contact points if necessary and, where necessary, to charge their cell phones at the “disaster protection lighthouses” provided in order to continue to be reachable.