RTL Today - Following major fire: Junglinster municipal building to be partly demolished

While the damage was less severe than initially expected, parts of the building will need to be demolished, the mayor has said.

Following a huge blaze at the Junglinster municipal building on Friday, which did not injure anyone but engulfed the commune's archive, officials now say the middle section of the building will need to be completely torn down.

The central part of the "new municipal building", a historical old barn renovated in 2006 with two modern building wings, was engulfed in flames on Friday morning.

Mayor Ben Ries (DP) confirmed to RTL that the middle section could no longer be saved and will have to be demolished.

The flames had also spread to the roof of the farmhouse, which must be completely replaced — provided the walls of the farmhouse did not crumble under the water used to extinguish the fire.

The municipality is awaiting the final decision by structural engineers and the insurance companies to make a decision on whether to rehabilitate or demolish the building. The same applies to the modern annex to the left of the barn. While this part looks quite intact from the outside, a great deal of damage has been observed on the inside. The building's other annex was spared from the fire.

Large parts of the municipal archive were housed in the old barn. On Friday, it was feared that important documents would be lost forever.

However, Mayor Ries said that — while they are still waiting for a detailed inventory — things are looking better than expected, with some documents only impacted by water used to extinguish the fire. More important documents, such as notarial contracts, or birth and marriage certificates, were stored in other parts of the municipal building and did not fall victim to the flames.

A police investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. Approximately 50 to 60 firefighters were on site on Friday, with the blaze reported shortly after midnight.