Firewalk On Lake Zurich - 30 People Were Injured Walking On Red-hot Coals

– 30 people were injured walking on red-hot coals

For some of the participants at the hospital, a team event on the Au peninsula has ended. They suffered severe burns during the firefight. Two of them are still in the hospital.

Large-scale operation Tuesday night: Protective and rescue forces in Zurich had to treat 25 people with burns on the Au peninsula.

Photo: PD Canton Police / Zurich

The incident was reported to the police on Tuesday evening around 6 p.m.: Several people suffered burns while walking on red-hot coals. Paramedics moved out with a large contingent and treated about 30 wounded on the spot. According to a police report, 13 of them had to be hospitalized. Cantonal police seized evidence and launched an investigation into the incident.

What is certain is that the walk through the fire on Tuesday evening in the Au Peninsula was the team event of the Goldbach advertising marketer who, like this newspaper, belongs to the TX Group. “At the moment, we can only say that there was no serious injury,” says a spokeswoman for Iris Blättler, who organized the event. It does not provide any information about the organizer who conducted the walk around the fire. Two people are currently in hospital care.

Just a pile of coal: the heat of the fire travels on a Tuesday night, you can still feel it on a Wednesday morning.

Photo: Daniel Hitz

The event participant commented on 20 minutes. After walking on red-hot coals, she cooled her feet in the water like everyone else. But then she realized that the pain wasn’t getting better, in fact it was getting worse. “Affected people had large blisters on their feet,” he says. According to current information from Goldbach, people who had to be admitted to the hospital suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns.

Firewalk is considered a kind of ritual. According to the cantonal police, the participants walked one by one through a field of hot coals several meters high. Burn pain did not appear immediately, but was delayed.

Otto Gerber from Wädenswil has been running fire walks for 36 years. But not the one from Tuesday evening, as the interviewee emphasizes. “Something like this shouldn’t have happened,” he says. Burns shouldn’t happen to even one person – let alone 25.

Proper preparation is important

During the firewall, the coach has to be the first to cross the coals and at least twice, explains Gerber. “Only then can it estimate whether the 700-degree heat can be crossed without damage.”

Group dynamics also need to be right before it begins. “You can’t talk for the last 20 minutes. That would weaken concentration, ”says Gerber. To do this, there are preparatory exercises. “It is the trainer’s responsibility to determine the right moment. If you go too early something like this can happen.

The firewalk helps participants focus on the moment and use the power of fear positively, says Gerber. “It shouldn’t paralyze us, but give us the energy to dare to do something after all. Plus, the firewalk is just a beautiful thing. Unique experience. “

The last firewalking accident in Switzerland was in Winterthur during the 2003 “Team Incentive Weekend” of the women’s floorball team. The Red Ants then had to do without an injured defender.

Tina Fassbind since 2008 he has been working in the department of Zurich Politics & Economics. She studied German in Basel and graduated in journalism from the University of Freiburg.

More information@Tfassbind

Daniel Schneebeli is an editor in the Zurich department. He is a reporter for the Canton Council and writes mainly on political and human topics. He has been working in journalism since 1989, first for “Zürcher Unterländer” and since 1996 for “Tages-Anzeiger”.