Evacuation in Babenhausen: High-rise building still closed due to facade demolition!

Evacuation in Babenhausen: High-rise building still closed due to facade demolition!

In Babenhausen, the consequences of a facade collapse are causing a great stir. On June 4, 2025, an eleven-story high-rise building was evacuated after part of the facade, approximately 20 to 25 square meters, fell down. The police had to quickly order the evacuation of the 70 apartments in the Erloch high-rise on the night from Sunday to Monday, with residents only having 5 to 10 minutes to leave their apartments. Currently, around 187 people who lost their homes due to the incident are staying with friends, relatives, in hotels or in the city hall, where they have to temporarily sleep on camp beds, reported op online.

Since the incident, the city administration has had the situation under control in crisis mode and is coordinating support for those affected. The plan is for tenants to be able to return to their apartments in the week from June 30th to July 4th, 2025. A testing engineer is monitoring the demolition work on the damaged brick facade on the north side of the high-rise, which is a prerequisite for safe access and usable escape and rescue routes.

Challenges after the incident

As Mayor Dominik Stadler explained, the first reports about the facade had come up beforehand. Resident Bistra Damyanova had repeatedly pointed out deficiencies, but the authorities took a long time to officially respond. Now the building supervision is required, because the evacuation was carried out to prevent further dangers, such as parts of the facade falling off. The good news: There is no general risk of collapse for the building.

The city of Babenhausen has recognized the need to improve its structures. Defects in the so-called facing shell of the facade were identified, and an engineering firm is also planning to install a new thermal insulation composite system on the concrete walls. It is also planned to use another crane and a lifting device to carry out the work on all three facade parts at the same time.

The importance of high-rise buildings and fire protection

High-rise buildings like the one in Babenhausen now have a permanent place in the urban landscape. They not only offer living space, but are often established landmarks. But this type of construction also comes with special challenges, especially with regard to fire protection, which is subject to strict regulations for high-rise buildings. A central problem is the vertical spread of fire. In the event of a fire, rapid evacuations are often essential, but also extremely difficult. The fire department often finds it difficult to provide effective assistance due to the height and the large number of people, which regularly leads to tragic scenarios in fires in high-rise buildings, as various incidents reported around the world show FeuerTrutz.

The Babenhausen city administration asks for your understanding for possible delays in processing regular concerns, while at the same time working intensively to improve the circumstances for the affected tenants. The hope remains that the apartments will be reoccupied as quickly as possible, and those responsible are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the residents.