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Major fire in Wildhaus: The former Hotel Acker went up in flames +++ Extinguishing work is still ongoing on Thursday +++ Will the cause of the fire always remain a mystery?
A major fire broke out in the former Hotel Acker in Wildhaus on Wednesday evening. The extinguishing work continues on Thursday. Various projects to revitalize the area have failed in the past. According to the police, it is uncertain whether the cause of the fire will ever be determined – witnesses are now being sought.
The first reports of the major fire were received shortly before 6 p.m., says Florian Schneider, media spokesman for the St. Gallen cantonal police, when asked. The fire brigade and police were deployed for a major operation. Among other things, the local fire department went to the scene of the fire and, according to Schneider, received support from partner fire departments.
Wooden part largely burned away
As the cantonal police announced later in the evening, the first rescue workers found part of the building fully ablaze. The former hotel consists of a wooden part and a concrete part.
The part of the building that caught fire collapsed late Wednesday evening and burned down completely. The ceiling of the underground car park below also collapsed, according to the police. The fire brigades were still busy extinguishing the fire; they also had to collect the contaminated fire-fighting water and contain possible effects on the environment. The environmental damage service of the Office for the Environment of the Canton of St.Gallen as well as officials from the municipality and the local sewage treatment plant were also called in for this purpose. For further extinguishing work, excavators were also called in to remove and extinguish the still glowing fire debris. The police write that the damage runs into the millions.
The fire brigade managed to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring buildings despite massive sparks being thrown. Around a dozen residents were evacuated for safety reasons. They were all uninjured and found private shelter. According to Florian Schneider, the police had no evidence on Thursday morning that there were people in the building that caught fire.
The road between Wildhaus and Gams had to be closed. “Anyone who knows the area should avoid the area as much as possible,” said police spokesman Schneider. There are also traffic disruptions in the center of Wildhaus. According to Schneider, the streets were closed until after midnight. However, on Thursday there will be no more traffic restrictions due to the fire or the extinguishing work.
View of the Hotel Acker, which caught fire.
Reader picture
Puzzles about the cause of the fire – the degree of destruction is enormous
Over 100 members of the local fire department and partner fire departments from surrounding communities were deployed on site. The rescue service with an operations manager as well as several patrols and specialists from the St.Gallen cantonal police also went to the scene of the fire.
As police spokesman Florian Schneider said on Thursday morning when asked, the extinguishing work lasted all night. The fire brigade will probably be on duty for a large part of Thursday, as various debris still needs to be extinguished: “The glowing fire debris will be removed with excavators.” Depending on the situation, there may still be a lot of smoke, but the fire will no longer produce any flames.
According to Schneider, in addition to the fire department, police fire investigators will also be on duty on Thursday. How the major fire started is currently completely unclear – and may remain so forever. “The level of damage to the building is enormous. “It may therefore be necessary to assume that the cause of the fire will never be found out,” he says.
The St.Gallen cantonal police are looking for witnesses to reconstruct the course of the fire. She asks people who made observations before the fire, at the time of the fire outbreak and during the course of the fire to contact the Mels police station on 058-229-78-00. We also ask that photo and video material created during the same period be sent to the St.Gallen cantonal police via the upload portal set up for this purpose to provide.
Thomas Diezig, mayor of Wildhaus.
Bild: Armando Bianco/Wundo
When mayor Thomas Diezig found out about the fire at around 6 p.m., the “old field” was already fully ablaze. The heat was enormous, he says. “For us, it was about ensuring the evacuation of the residents of neighboring properties.”
Many projects to revitalize the area failed
The Hotel Acker existed in the property where the major fire is now raging until 2001. After it closed, there were numerous projects to revitalize the area. They ranged from an oncology and burnout clinic to a tourism hotel and apartments. However, the project never came to fruition.
Has been empty for years: Hotel Acker in Wildhaus in October 2023.
Image: Raphael Rohner
Due to a lack of investors, the plan to build a hotel complex with a publicly accessible wellness area and restaurant on the site ultimately came to a standstill.
The Hotel Acker in Wildhaus had been empty and dilapidated for years.
Image: Sandro Büchler
(9. October 2023)
Visitor magnet and tourism favorite
Even when it was built in 1911, the Hotel Acker was an extremely striking building and extremely popular with tourists. So the first building – a simple Toggenburg house – was added to again and again and finally today’s hotel building was made of wood.
The hotel has graced dozens of postcards and has repeatedly been referred to as the “Pearl of the Swiss Alps”:
The “field” on a postcard from 1944.
Canton TG postcard collection
An aerial view shows the Hotel Acker in Wildhaus in its heyday in 1949.
Image: ETH
The Hotel Acker on a postcard from 1973.
Private collection
The hotel’s exceptional location on the hill gave guests a special view. In the 1970s, the hotel experienced such a boom that a new extension was built.
Three major fires since the beginning of 2023
The fire in the former Hotel Acker in Wildhaus is the third major fire in Toggenburg within a year. On February 1, 2023, the Andreas Bischof GmbH carpentry shop in Wildhaus caught fire and burned down completely. The company finally built a new hall in Unterwasser.
Pictures of the major fire in the carpentry workshop in Wildhaus from February 2023:
Last December there was a major fire in Neu St.Johann, as a result of which a sawmill and a residential building were completely burned out. The damage amounted to over one million francs and two people lost their homes. Nobody was injured here either.
View of the sawmill with attached house that was completely destroyed last December.
Bild: Theres Bachmann