Firefighters extinguished renewed flames at Bavaria’s Kehlsteinhaus, known as the Eagle’s Nest, early Sunday, two days after a blaze nearly destroyed the Nazi-era mountaintop building and as police investigate suspected arson.
The State of Bavaria owns the building. Initial damage estimates put losses in the millions, while officials continue assessing the damage and insurance claims. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told The Associated Press, “We’re not going to leave a ruin there.”
The Kehlsteinhaus dates to 1938, when it was built within the Nazi-era Obersalzberg complex. The site’s official history records only occasional visits by Adolf Hitler. The building has served as a mountain guesthouse since 1952.
Police told Austria’s APA news agency the renewed flames reached room height before crews extinguished them. BGLand24 reported, citing the police control center, that patrols noticed smoke and flames at about 9:30 p.m. ET Saturday (01:30 UTC Sunday); follow-up firefighting ended around 11:30 p.m. ET (03:30 UTC). Police said smoldering embers could reignite.
Bavarian police said the first alarm was received at 3:15 p.m. ET Friday, Oct. 23 (19:15 UTC), and firefighters found fire throughout the building. About 200 emergency and rescue personnel from six municipalities and other services took part. Police reported no injuries. EconoTimes previously covered the first fire and provisional detention.
Police said they provisionally arrested a 33-year-old German man with a Berlin residence at 3:45 p.m. ET Friday (19:45 UTC). After an initial psychiatric evaluation found a mental illness, a judge ordered the man held provisionally in a psychiatric hospital on suspicion of arson. Police said suspicion of intentional arson had strengthened, but investigators have not confirmed the man’s responsibility, the ignition source or a motive. Police said investigators would continue examining the scene with help from a Bavarian state criminal-police expert.
