Huge fire tears through Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest mountaintop retreat

A fire has ripped through the mountaintop retreat built for Adolf Hitler known as the Eagle’s Nest, with a man arrested on suspicion of arson.

Flames ripped through the Kehlsteinhaus in the Bavarian Alps, which was originally commissioned by the Nazi Party in the 1930s.

A fire alarm sounded in the building near Berchtesgaden at around 9.15pm on Friday, with the blaze spotted by emergency services spreading across the peak at 1,834 metres above sea level.

In a statement, Bavarian Police said 200 firefighters had been dispatched to the building.

An update issued by the force this afternoon said drones had been banned from flying over the area, with hikers and mountaineers urged to avoid the peak.

‘Extinguishing operations continue. Please keep the operational area clear’, the statement said.

Firefighters faced a challenge reaching the remote location and required respiratory protection equipment to access the building and its surrounding area, with teams still fighting the blaze this morning.

One unnamed person has been arrested, although it is yet to be confirmed whether they had any part in the cause of the fire.

Nobody was found in the building, and no injuries have been reported.

An investigation into the fire has been launched by the Traunstein criminal investigation department.

Completed in just over a year near the Austrian border in 1938, the Kehlsteinhaus originally hosted events for the Nazi Party, at least 14 of which Hitler is documented to have attended.

In April 1945, it was the target of RAF bombing, although the building was not directly struck in the Allied attack.

Today the site is used by a charitable trust as a tourist attraction, with a restaurant and beer garden.

Given the severe damage to the building, it is unknown whether it can be restored, a local tourism authority said.

Private vehicles are not allowed up the mountain because the road leading to it is too narrow to accommodate them, with access only permitted on foot and via designated shuttle buses.

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