Blaze destroys multimillion-euro German fire station that had no alarms

‘No one wants to have to extinguish his own fire station,’ the district fire inspector said. Photograph: Andreas Arnold/AP

A state-of-the-art fire station in western Germany that was completed last year at a cost of tens of millions of euros has burned to the ground because it had not been equipped with a fire alarm.

The town of Stadtallendorf had proudly unveiled the new structure less than a year ago, but early on Wednesday emergency services were alerted to a fire that had started in a vehicle before quickly spreading to the whole building.