Fire in Friedland: 100,000 euros in damage and suspicion of negligent arson!

Fire in Friedland: 100,000 euros in damage and suspicion of negligent arson!

On June 16, 2025, a fire in a business on Preetzer Weg in Friedland caused a stir. At exactly 4:05 p.m., the rescue control center of the Mecklenburg Lake District reported the incident to the Neubrandenburg police headquarters. The fire broke out in a sorting and shredding plant for electronic waste, where employees initially tried to put out the fire themselves. However, attempts to extinguish the fire failed, so the fire department was called.

An impressive number of 83 comrades from the volunteer fire departments from Friedland, Schwichtenberg, Klockow, Eichhorst, Genzkow, Salow, Kotelow, Neubrandenburg Oststadt and the Neubrandenburg professional fire department rushed to the scene. Thanks to their quick response, the fire was finally put out. Nevertheless, there were suspected cases of smoke poisoning among three employees who tried to fight the fire independently. A 49-year-old German had to be taken to the Neubrandenburg Clinic, while a 41-year-old sought medical treatment on his own. A 22-year-old Czech, however, refused any medical care.

Damage and investigations

The estimated material damage is around 100,000 euros. In this context, there is suspicion of negligent arson, which is why the criminal police have taken over the investigation. In addition, a fire cause investigator will be called in on June 17, 2025 to carry out a detailed analysis of the causes. The training and qualifications of fire investigators are not uniformly regulated in Germany. Outdated methodologies are often used, which can make it difficult to determine the causes of fires, as brandsuche.net notes.

This makes the technical competence of the experts deployed all the more important, as they should have knowledge of areas such as criminalistics, crime scene work, fire physics and electrical engineering. In other countries there are already internationally recognized standards for the training of fire investigators, which can still be expanded in Germany.

Statistical data and backgrounds

In order to get a comprehensive picture of the causes of fires and their consequences, various institutions in Germany are cooperating to collect statistical data. These include, among other things, the fire cause statistics from the Institute for Loss Prevention and Loss Research of the public insurers and the police crime statistics of the Federal Republic of Germany. Publicly accessible data from vfdb.de provide important insights into the causes of fires and their effects on society.

It remains to be seen what findings the investigation into the fire in Friedland will bring. The damaging consequences of fires are felt by everyone involved, especially in a sensitive area such as electronic waste processing. The incident once again shows how important preventive measures and in-depth knowledge are in determining the cause of a fire.