Major fire in St. Johann: Alert level 4 after gas bottle explosion!

Major fire in St. Johann: Alert level 4 after gas bottle explosion!

In St. Johann im Pongau there was a dramatic major fire in a residential building on Friday, October 24th, 2025 at around 8:00 p.m. The cause of the fire was a gas cylinder that caught fire in an apartment on the first floor. The owner of the apartment reacted quickly and brought the burning gas bottle onto the balcony, causing it to also burst into flames. This resulted in the fire quickly spreading to the balcony above and the entire building facade. As a result, the second floor and ultimately the roof structure were affected, as fireworld.at reports.

The emergency services from the St. Johann Volunteer Fire Department quickly became aware of the dramatic situation that was taking place on site. They were currently on an exercise but were able to get to the scene immediately. When they arrived, the entire building facade was already fully engulfed in flames. Operations manager ABI Marcel Pfisterer decided to trigger alert level 4, which not only meant increased operational readiness of the local fire brigade, but also the alerting of additional fire brigades and special forces.

Emergency services and extinguishing work

A total of around 175 emergency services were on site, including volunteer fire brigades from St. Johann, Bischofshofen, Schwarzach andwerfen as well as the district fire brigade command and the Red Cross. The extinguishing work was difficult. An interior attack using heavy respiratory protection had to be aborted due to the risk of collapse. The fire in the roof structure was fought with special “fognails” and aerial rescue equipment.

Luckily, the fire department was able to bring the fire under control before it spread to neighboring buildings. Initially there was concern that four people and a dog could be in the building. Fortunately, all seven people were rescued unharmed. Only one person had to be treated for suspected smoke poisoning and later released.

Consequences of the fire

The subsequent extinguishing work took several hours and the affected residential building is currently no longer habitable. The water supply was also quickly secured; A hydrant and three feeder lines from the Salzach were available.

The frequency and severity of fire events underscores the importance of fire protection. Data shows that unfortunately there are no comprehensive and uniform fire statistics in Germany. However, statistics on fires, causes of fires and injuries could contribute to improving fire protection, as can feuertrutz.de.

The current situation in St. Johann im Pongau illustrates how quickly living situations can become endangered and reminds us of the need for robust fire protection in all households. Those responsible have the opportunity to keep up to date with fire safety and sign up for news.

For further information about the incident in St. Johann, you can view the reporting from ORF Salzburg.