Balance sheet on New Year’s Eve – Incidents with fireworks and fires – one dead and one injured – News

• Several fireworks incidents and some fires occurred on New Year’s Eve.
• In the cantons of Zurich and Aargau, two people were seriously injured while handling fireworks.
• In Schenkon, Lucerne, a man even died in an accident involving a fireworks display he presumably built himself.

Several cantonal police reported on New Year’s Day that emergency services had to be called out because of mischief or accidents involving fireworks. A 41-year-old man in Dottikon AG and a 16-year-old in Hochfelden ZH were seriously injured in the head after fireworks were set off. There, two young people were fiddling with a firecracker that suddenly went off. The second teenager was injured in his hands.

A man even had a fatal accident in the Lucerne community of Schenkon. According to the Lucerne police, the 46-year-old used his self-made fireworks device to shoot firecrackers.

Evacuated gondola lift, burning Christmas tree

In the Valais ski resort of Verbier, a gondola lift had to be temporarily evacuated due to a fire. According to the police, unknown people fired fireworks from a cabin and started a bush fire.

Presumably a burning Christmas tree made an attic apartment in an apartment building in Reinach in the canton of Baselland uninhabitable. The residents were rescued from the terrace of their apartment by the fire department.

More than two dozen smaller fires in the city and canton of Zurich required the deployment of the fire department and police. Fireworks caused fires on balconies and in a basement in several apartment buildings and a retirement home. One person received medical treatment by the emergency services.

However, several cantonal police also reported that overall New Year’s Eve passed without any major problems or accidents. The Geneva and Vaud cantonal police said they had an “intense and festive night” – like every year.