False alarms at the underground car park on Eurpopaplatz triggered by weather conditions

Temperature fluctuations have led to false alarms in the underground car park under Europaplatz over the past two days. The rapid change in weather caused condensation to form, which penetrated individual smoke detectors and triggered the fire brigade's automatic alarm. The city council is already working on a technical solution to the weather-related problem.

Both yesterday and this morning, the Bocholt fire brigade was called out to the underground car park under Europaplatz due to automatic fire alarms. However, the emergency services were quickly able to give the all-clear on site, as there was no actual fire. The cause of the alarms was the rapid change in temperature over the past few days. The rapid rise from previously sub-zero temperatures to double-digit plus values led to condensation forming on the cold concrete ceilings of the first basement floor in the underground car park, which was not yet in use.

This moisture got into the housing of individual fire detectors and simulated the development of smoke, which led to the alarm being triggered by the system. The responsible experts at the city council are currently working hard to find a technical solution to protect the detectors from the ingress of condensation and to prevent further false alarms in similar weather conditions.

In this context, the city of Bocholt would like to point out that the opening of the underground car park is still dependent on the delivery of a pending simulation report for the fire protection system. Only when this document is available and has been positively assessed can the car park be opened to the public. The administration emphasises that the current, weather-related false alarms have no technical or causal connection with the missing report.