On the night of Wednesday, residents of Dorf ZH were abruptly woken from their sleep: an attic exploded on Buchemerstrasse shortly after two o’clock. “I happened to be awake when there was a terrible bang,” said a neighbor. Everyone in her house was jolted awake by the bang. “When it went off, we suddenly stood up in bed and couldn’t sleep a wink after that,” said another resident.
As the Zurich cantonal police announced on Wednesday morning, the 13 residents who were still in the building were immediately evacuated by first responders. A 39-year-old man had to be flown to hospital by Rega with severe burns.
A family of seven with four small children lived in the attic. Several residents say that the attic was recently specially converted to make room for the extended family. “They converted it completely themselves.”
Neighbours say they knew the family but had little contact. “The children go to school, they saw each other on the street.”
According to several residents, a small balcony fire broke out in the attic a few weeks ago. “The residents were able to put out the fire themselves and did not have to contact the fire department,” says a neighbor.
Mayor Patric Eisele was also woken from his sleep by the explosion. “The bang and the pressure wave were like a meteorite hitting the ground.” Since he lives in the neighborhood, he was quickly on the scene. “Despite the confusing situation on site, we were fortunately able to determine that most of the residents had already left the house,” said Eisele.
“Unfortunately, it later turned out that one person was seriously injured.” Eisele was able to temporarily accommodate the families from the house in the community hall. Eisele confirmed that the attic had recently undergone renovations. “This is a completed extension.”
According to the cantonal police, the remaining twelve residents of the house were unharmed. However, the house is no longer inhabitable due to the extensive damage. All residents were able to stay with relatives and friends.
The debris from the explosion also hit and damaged neighboring houses and cars parked nearby. One neighbor’s entire garden was filled with roof tiles and the balcony was also damaged.
According to initial estimates, the total damage is likely to amount to several hundred thousand francs. The cause of the explosion is the subject of ongoing investigations by the Zurich Cantonal Police in cooperation with the responsible public prosecutor’s office.
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