Fire under cable bridge in Berlin-Marzahn: Police are investigating arson

Power cables were damaged by a fire beneath a cable bridge in the Marzahn district of Berlin. The police are investigating arson and are securing evidence on site, a police spokesman said. Whether it was a targeted attack is part of the investigation.

The fire department was informed around 4 a.m. and initially assumed it would be a small operation, as a fire department spokesman said. According to him, old tires and junk were burning under a bridge on Boxberger Strasse. However, the fire damaged power lines. According to a fire department spokesman, there was no widespread power outage.

19 commercial customers affected

According to Stromnetz Berlin spokesman Henrik Beuster, 19 commercial businesses had to be temporarily disconnected from the power grid. “They have been supplied again from an emergency generator since around 9 a.m.,” explained Beuster. According to him, as a result of the fire, two 110,000-volt high-voltage cables and several medium-voltage lines with 10,000 volts were damaged. Repair work is underway, the spokesman said.

The police union (GdP) suspects a targeted attack on the infrastructure. "The investigation into the serious arson is open-ended in all directions, but anyone who assumes that several tires on fire under a cable bridge are a coincidence also believes in Santa Claus," explained Berlin GdP spokesman Benjamin Jendro.

There have been several attacks on power lines in Berlin in the past. These sometimes led to large power outages and were attributed to left-wing extremist groups. These were professionally carried out attacks.