An idea with devastating consequences: Because she wanted to warm her mattress with a hair dryer, a teenager has set a house on fire.
During the fire on the second Christmas holiday in Freudenburg in Rhineland-Palatinate, four residents suffered smoke poisoning, a police spokesman said. The damage amounts to well over 200,000 euros, and the building is indefinitely uninhabitable.
According to the investigation, the teenager was so cold when she got home at night that she had the idea of warming up her mattress with a hair dryer. "Unfortunately, she just fell asleep," said the spokesman. She had not switched off the hairdryer, and the mattress caught fire.
Father and daughter startled shortly afterwards. According to the speaker, they brought the burning mattress to the balcony, dumped water over it and left it there - in the false hope that the problem would be solved. But as soon as they had gone to bed, the mattress began to burn again. The fire quickly spread to the façade of the four-story building and ate into the attic.
A firefighter, who was on his way home, discovered the fire and promptly alerted residents and emergency services. Around 110 firefighters extinguished the fire for several hours.