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Electric wheelchair causes devastating hotel fire in Zinnowitz
On October 4, 2025, an electric wheelchair caused a hotel fire in Zinnowitz, Western Pomerania-Greifswald, with several people injured.
Electric wheelchair causes devastating hotel fire in Zinnowitz
On the night of Friday to Saturday, October 4, 2025, there was a devastating fire in a hotel in Zinnowitz in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, which was caused by an electric hospital elevator. How NDR Reportedly, the fire broke out in one of the rooms and spread quickly. Around 120 people, including children, were affected by the incident.
The two fire departments from Zinnowitz and Trassenheide, each with 13 comrades, as well as seven rescue workers, were quickly on site to put out the fire. The owner of the electric wheelchair suffered burns and smoke inhalation and had to be taken to hospital. Thanks to the rapid response of the fire brigade, the fire was contained, but three other rooms became uninhabitable due to smoke gas and extinguishing water. The estimated total damage is around 100,000 euros. The guests in the uninhabitable rooms were immediately accommodated elsewhere, while everyone else was able to return after about two hours.
Difficulties in fighting fires
There was already a major fire brigade operation in Zinnowitz on Friday afternoon. A fire in the kitchen of a restaurant caused thick smoke and an acrid smell in the town center. Employees of the restaurant tried to contain the fire with fire extinguishers, which was essentially successful, so that the fire brigade only had to carry out extinguishing work and ventilation measures. How Baltic Sea newspaper reported, it was initially unclear whether there were any injuries, but emergency services were called in to be on the safe side.
Causes of fire in focus
Research into the causes of fires is carried out regularly. The Institute for Loss Prevention and Loss Research of Public Insurers (IFS) recently published the fire cause statistics for 2023. This shows that electricity and human error are the most common causes of fire. In 2022, around 2,000 fire cause investigations were carried out, during which significant damage to and in buildings was examined. The statistics have been published annually since 2002 and provide valuable insights into improving fire safety, such as FeuerTrutz summarizes.
It remains to be hoped that lessons will be learned from such incidents in order to be able to respond even better to possible fire hazards in the future and to increase safety in the affected facilities.