Explosion in the night

23 police cars were on fire in Munich

On Saturday night, 23 police cars burned in front of the police dog unit in Munich (symbolic image).

(Bild: APA/AFP/dpa/Patrick Pleul)

23 police cars were on fire in Munich on Saturday night. The intense heat also caused the outer glazing on several windows of the police station to burst. The police suspect arson.

The police cars were completely destroyed by the fire. The fire department reported that the first emergency call was received at around 2.40 a.m. on Saturday night. The caller reported a fire in the police station and several explosive noises. He assumed it was a roof truss fire.

When the fire department arrived, 23 vehicles were "on fire". It took 45 minutes to extinguish everything. The intense heat also caused damage to several windows of the somewhat remote police station of the service dog squadron.

Here you can see a post from the Munich fire department about the operation.

During the night, 50 officers were still deployed to search the area. However, there were no dogs in the kennels at the time of the fire, said a spokeswoman. Neither people nor animals were injured in the fire.

Political background?
It was not initially possible to put an exact figure on the high property damage. In recent years, there have been repeated suspicious fires in and around Munich, in which investigators have not ruled out arson and a political background. It was initially unclear whether there was a connection to these.