The Düsseldorf Airport Blaze (Worst Airport Fire in History)

The in-depth documentary of the Düsseldorf Airport Fire Disaster 1996: The worst structural fire to have occurred in any commercial airport building.

As one of Germany's top airports and one of the 20 largest in Europe, Düsseldorf Airport is as busy as it can be. It is early afternoon of April 11 1996, and as usual, the arrivals are pouring in. The first level of Terminal A is swarming with passengers. While some wait for their luggage, others rush to departure gates to catch the next flight. Hundreds of people are in motion; they are unaware that hidden just 10 feet above them, a disaster is unfolding.

This is a documentary video for educational purposes.

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We reveal the world's darkest and greatest disasters all based on true stories.
This disaster documentary is inspired by the fantastic "Fascinating Horror".

[conraydo]

These calls from the lounge made me really sad. They must have sat there, waiting for help and the only one who survived was the one who did exactly what they were told not to do.

[moatl]

I'm working as an engineer in an EMC lab. I was told a story once, that the fire at Düsseldorf airport caused the implementation of radiated emission limits up to 300MHz (in CISPR15 etc.) some years later: Before the firefighters could start to fight the fire they had to turn off the electrical mains supplies. But turning off the mains triggered the emergency-lights that disturbed the radios of the fire brigades and the police.

[leokimvideo]

How many times does a guy doing some welding cause a major disaster, seems to happen all the time

[markhonea]

Using Styrofoam as insulation is absolutely crazy.

[somerandomdragon]

That awkward moment when you see a video about a disaster story of something where you have lived close to for the most part of your life, but have never heard of the actual disaster.

[pascalzurek]

It's "Lufthansa", not "Luthfansa". You are spelling it wrong throughout the whole video.

[hyun]

If breaking a window in a fire ever crosses your mind as a real option, then don't ask and just do it. Even if they come and save you before it was necessary to jump out and escape, I can't really see that as an overreaction when you're literally trapped in a building that is on fire. One way or another the system has already failed you in that moment, so you're not obligated to put any further trust in it when your life is on the line

[XmarkedSpot]

Lol i just came back from driving my mom to that very airport. Never knew that fire had happened.

[terrimitchell-whatdoyouthink]

No single defendent... ❓❓❓ That means ALL DEFENDENTS are guilty. Especially the welders... And the airport superiors who were supposed to arrange for fire crew to be on watch during the works... Were the victims' families ever compensated? How frightening.

[echthowski]

Accidents like this are so sad, but because of things like this fire protection laws are getting better and better, so history doesn't repeat..

[catthegipsy]

My phone must have overheated, there's no sound on the video. UK.

[timoswindowseat]

Good documentation, but fire destroyed only terminal B. Terminal A and C are still old. Now only the main arrival and departure area and terminal B is new.

[coffzor]

In Sweden we don't take chances. Children are taught the "big 4" in school and we reguarly have days to train in the events of fires. We also know that we should all gather together to make sure we're all there. The biggest lesson we learned was that calmness and taking saftey above anything else saves lifes. We don't tell people to stay because the fire "is controlled". We get everyone the fuck out of there because even though a company might loose income due to a false alarm, it's not worth playing with the risk of death.

The big 4: Rädda, Varna, Larma, Släck. This translates into "Save, Warn, Alert, Extinguish"
These apply even if you don't see a fire. The sound of an alarm, the smell of fire among other signs are valid enough to start the procedure of these 4 steps.

Save: Save anyone you see needs help. If you know there are people still in there or in anykind of situation, muster up boy and try to get that person out of there. People with disabilities should always be considered to be helped. Wheelchairs etc may pose a problem, especially if you're on another floor than groundfloor as elevators won't be safe in the event of a fire. (NEVER TAKE ELEVATORS)

Warn: Warn your colleagues/classmates etc. Some may sit with headsets or just out of focus, taking a nap, working etc. If there is no alarm this action may be the single factor that changes the fate of a person and their entire life. Call them, yell out loud (calm yelling to avoid panic and confusion), anything to get everyones attention to the potential hazard.

Alert: It's once you've come to the point where you've done your utmost to save and warn the people in danger that you should call 911. If you're alone, only alert after you've done the two above steps, otherwise once any group of people move towards saftey, tell them to alert EMS.

Extinguish: Start fighting the flames. Even though you may not be a firefighter there are fires that you can activley fight or atleast start to douse parts where the fire isn't a threat to your life or wellbeing. If you deem the fire to be too harsh for you to do anything useful, don't quit. Keep trying but stay safe :)

[askatata]

My Father brought his Girlfriend to the Airport that day but He had to leave because of work. She died there. I guess she died in the Elevator. My Father and Her Mom never got an real explanation of this disaster. So thank you for making this Video and bringing clearance to us. And R.i.p to All other people who died in this tragedy

[BurnPerimeter]

Here are are 2 painfully obvious advices for when a fire breaks out, that sadly no one likes to take seriously.
1. Use stairs in case of fire, NEVER use elevators during fire
2. Don't let the source of fire get ANY air.
2

[crazyleyland]

I have always hated expanded polystyrene ceiling tiles, because of what would happen to these in a fire. This thick polystyrene insulation sounds even worse.

[devy]

5 1/2 years and all were acquitted? Sounds to me like there were many, many people guilty yet the excuse is that it couldn't be blamed on one person so nobody was put in prison? What a waste of money, heartbreak and life. The only party who wasn't to blame was probably the welders. How were they responsible for carrying out what they were told to do? Were the welders in charge of fire prevention for the entire airport? Did they have an education in fire fighting, all of the things that could possibly go wrong in all situations? Where's the guy who broke the law with the insulation? Who was responsible for training fire fighters? Who was in charge of security? Management? Ownership? See, lots of people who should all be in prison so this doesn't happen again. My heart and prayers go out to the families who saw no justice, I certainly hope that civil lawyers results were better, but it's not justice. Rich people don't get put in prison(in Germany), the least they could do would be to pay each family $10 million each. They didn't accept illegal insulation in just this one instance, the fire probably hid all of the short cuts that gave the builders their big money and resulted in this tragedy. Please tell me there is a memorial of this event that recognizes those who died and how? I want to thank the firefighters and others who risked or gave their lives or health to save so many lives. God bless you.

[v-vr-rotatev-vy_vx]

Such a horrible event.Done some serious welding in my career, Always was careful using welding blankets, spray bottles anything not to spark damage to our work and surrounding areas. Seen others weld in the vicinity of computers, electric flux field of the welders welding to close to those computers, destroy those computers.

[JWUniverse]

Never even heard of this… Until your video! So sad that in the end its always Money that gets people killed because either they don’t want to pay for the safety measures or something else dumb!

[steveger]

I call bullshit on "the airport firefighters knew nothing about handling indoor fires". There's nothing of that kind in any report that I've found. Overwhelmed by the scope of the blaze, sure. But untrained, that's nearly impossible. All German firefighters, including those in private owned departments and volunteers, get a standardized basic training. Otherwise the department is not recognized by insurers, and since there's a considerable price tag attached to that, even the pencil pushers in management can't help but notice.