German firefighters arrived at the Karlslust considerably later than their British counterparts, the bulk of them 40 minutes after having been called, for a variety of reasons: the low quality of their vehicles, whose engines needed some time to warm up; the speed limit of 40 kmph for civilians in Berlin, which had been imposed to ensure priority rights for vehicles of the World War II Allies); due to bridges over the Havel river having been destroyed during the war, detours were required to get to Hakenfelde from places in Spandau as well as the rest of Berlin.