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1200 detonators, 100 kilos of explosives, a few seconds of voltage: the Berges family business from Alheim blew up the old A7 bridge. The family does an explosive job every day.
Oberellenbach – It's precision work – and whether it works can be seen in just a few seconds. But in these the tension is huge. Because then everything has to fit. In the small Alheim district of Oberellenbach in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, there is a family business that does a truly explosive job. Klaus Berge as well as his daughter Sabrina and his son Toni Berge are, among other things, authorized blasters for extraction blasting above ground, underground and blasting of buildings and parts of buildings – as the official word is.
Your most recent major project was just a few weeks ago: the demolition of the aging Thalaubach Valley Bridge on the A7 near Eichenzell in the Fulda district on March 15th. The two old parts of the bridge there date from 1968 and have to be replaced by a new one because they can no longer withstand today's traffic loads.
Family with strong explosive force brought down A7 bridge
A major media event that attracted not only camera teams but also thousands of onlookers. Thanks to the blasting, dismantling can now take place much more quickly. The company owned by blaster Klaus Berge from Oberellenbach provided the decisive bang. And with the desired success.
Within a few seconds of each other there are two detonations that cause the bridge to collapse. First the pillars to the north, three seconds later the old bridge that leads to the south also falls. Everything briefly disappears in a huge cloud of dust. When this clears up, the bridge parts lie neatly laid down on the piles of earth piled up for this purpose – in the so-called fall beds. Everything went according to plan. The Berge company worked perfectly.
“The two parts of the bridge must not fall at the same time so that the vibrations do not become too great,” explains Toni Berge. After all, the new bridge part is already in the immediate vicinity and should not be damaged. This building contract was the largest to date for her small family business. And that under time pressure. The project was actually estimated to take four weeks of work. “We lost a week because of the bad weather because frost and thaw delayed the preparation of the area,” reports Klaus Berge.
He and his employees worked on Sundays for three weeks so that everything was finished to perfection. In addition to the daughter and son, the company, in which all activities are trained in-house, also includes the employees Andreas Soldan, Ingo Dach and Roland Uhlworm. “Without the active commitment and perseverance of our team, this wouldn’t have worked – everyone had to get involved,” the Berges agree.
Before the demolition, the bridge pillars had to be deliberately weakened by making cuts. Around 2,000 tons of steel and around 2,000 cubic meters of concrete In order to collapse the Thalaubach Valley Bridge, 1,200 detonators – the equivalent of around 100 kilograms of explosives – were necessary. “Just cabling this took over a week – counting from the drilling and marking,” says Sabrina Berge. During this period, the building also had to be guarded day and night.
The three Berges are certain that this work is much more than just a trained profession. “It takes a lot of experience because a lot of technical things have to be taken into account – static calculations so that everything breaks down during the explosion and falls where it should go are just one factor,” says Toni Berge.
And how do you decide to become an explosives authorized person? “I took part in the training in 1982 simply out of interest,” says the now 72-year-old. Since then, his company has been allowed to carry out general blasting work, and building blasting was added a little later. And this also came in handy when the old blasting master died a few years later and a specialist was needed for the work in the quarry in Oberellenbach.
Bridge blowing up was the largest order to date
Company founder Hans Berge laid the foundation for the family business with blasting in the local opencast mine. And the third generation, Sabrina and Toni, continues in his footsteps. “With blasting services, we have a unique selling point in the district – and that has been passed on from generation to generation,” says father Klaus, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
Family business for almost 90 years
The original Berge company was founded in 1937 by Hans Berge in Oberellenbach. At that time the focus was still on securing and extracting raw stones in opencast mining in the quarry in Oberellenbach. In 1972 the company was expanded with the establishment of a transport company for the removal of the raw stones mined.
Klaus Berge, the son of the company founder, took over the company in 1978 and further expanded the existing areas of activity with drilling and blasting services, mining and extraction of raw materials, raw material refining, transport services and recultivation. This now includes building blasting as well as heavy and special transport, and recently also underground blasting. Mother Petra worked in the office, looked after the needs of the employees and is still the good soul of the family and company to this day.
Daughter Sabrina is a trained commercial vehicle mechanic and joined the family business in 2006. Son Toni completed a degree in raw materials and geotechnics, stones and earths. Since Berge GmbH was founded in 2010, the small family business has been expanded with a lot of dedication and drive. Today all three are responsible for the company's business in their respective areas.
Shortly before it is ignited – what is it like at the crucial moment? “You have the ignition plan in your head and go through everything again – but you have the certainty that you have checked everything several times,” says Toni Berge. And then admits: “There’s a bit of excitement, coupled with anticipation.” His father sees it even more soberly: “I then think: the appointment has been made, now all that’s left to do is blow it up,” says the company boss and smiles.
When everything is in the right place and the explosion was successful, he also feels a feeling of relief and joy. “And when there are thousands of spectators there and clapping, then you’re a little proud of your work,” he says. And it continues. Just a week later, the Berges had a smaller bridge near Wuppertal in their order book. There, however, without spectators. And there was no clapping. So everything was completely normal. At least for a demolition expert and his family business. (by Peter Gottbehüt)
