Arson investigation opened after fire at Spandau refugee shelter injures four
A mattress fire on the fourth floor of a six-story refugee facility in Berlin-Spandau led to four smoke injuries, the evacuation of several hundred residents, and an aggravated arson investigation.
Overnight blaze in Spandau shelter
An early morning fire broke out on Saturday, 29 August 2026, inside a refugee accommodation facility on Freiheit street in the Berlin district of Spandau. The six-story complex, a former hotel designed to house nearly 1,200 individuals, triggered an automatic fire detection alarm at 03:43. Emergency services discovered that a mattress, furniture, and assorted debris had caught fire within a fourth-floor hallway. Dense smoke rapidly penetrated the stairwells, moving upward into corridors and living quarters across the fifth and sixth floors. On-site security guards began attempting to extinguish the flames with manual fire extinguishers before emergency crews reached the scene.
- Automatic fire alarm system triggers at the shelter on Freiheit street.
- 74 firefighters extinguish the fourth-floor blaze and secure the six-story building.
- Berlin police launch an aggravated arson inquiry as Spandau authorities rehouse roughly 50 residents.
Emergency response and casualties
The Berlin fire department dispatched 74 firefighters and 26 vehicles to contain the blaze and manage the large residential population. Because of the building's size and high occupancy, emergency commanders pre-emptively declared a mass casualty incident protocol to coordinate triage resources. Fire crews brought the flames under control within roughly two hours, preventing structural expansion to other floors. Four residents suffered smoke inhalation injuries during the incident. Paramedics transported three individuals to local hospitals, where two remained admitted for inpatient medical care by Saturday afternoon.
The emergency service noted the logistical complexity of managing the large crowd outside the facility during the night.
Particularly challenging for us was the high number of affected people and the language barrier that was partially present.
- Firefighters deployed
- 74 people
- Smoke inhalation injuries
- 4 people
- Transported to hospital
- 3 people
- Inpatient hospital care
- 2 people
Arson investigation and property damage
Berlin police announced on Saturday morning that criminal investigators had initiated proceedings on suspicion of aggravated arson. Specialized investigators took over the site after firefighters concluded their work around two hours after the initial call. Forensics teams inspected the fourth-floor corridor to determine how the mattress and furnishings caught fire. The fourth floor sustained severe smoke and structural soot damage, rendering it temporarily uninhabitable. The Spandau district office stepped in to organize alternative shelter for between 50 and 60 displaced occupants, housing roughly 50 of them in unaffected wings of the complex. By Saturday midday, exterior damage was imperceptible, and residents on other floors opened their windows to ventilate the building.
Resident accounts from the building
Several hundred residents evacuated the facility independently as smoke filled the upper corridors and staircases. Among those living in the shelter are Juri W., 42, and Roman R., 40, two men from the Kharkiv area in Ukraine who have resided in the accommodation for four months. They explained that fire alarms sound regularly in the building, which led them to stay in their room until two teenage girls with soot on their faces alerted them to the danger.
Roman R. reacted with amusement to initial reports indicating that the entire building had undergone a coordinated evacuation.
In any case, we were not evacuated.
Both men observed a burning mattress and cabinet in the corridor before the fire department arrived, suspecting deliberate ignition while police continued their technical forensic evaluation.
