Great fire on the Zillhöhe: Fire brigade fights against flames!

Great fire on the Zillhöhe: Fire brigade fights against flames!

Zillhöhe, Österreich - On April 6, 2025, the fire brigade was alerted to the Zillhöhe after a fire report shortly before 5:00 p.m. The reason was several emergency calls from residents who had observed intensive smoke development. Around 40 to 50 firefighters were deployed, with the site made special challenges due to the difficult accessibility. Head of operations Helmut Unterluggau reported that the fire was more or less deleted.

A police helicopter was requested for support, which took a total of around 15 waterloads with 700 liters from Lake Wörthersee. In total, around 10,000 liters of water were thrown onto the fire site. In order to ensure the extinguishing water supply, four tank fire vehicles were also used in commuting.

area information and follow -up checks

The affected area of ​​the forest fire is estimated to be around 8,000 square meters. At night, control courses are carried out every three hours to identify any embers with the help of a thermal imaging camera. The exact cause of the fire is currently still unknown.

In the context of forest fire statistics, it can be seen that a high proportion of forest fires has unexplained causes. According to the BMEL , around 77 percent of the forest area of ​​960 hectares in recent years under such circumstances. Another part of the fires, namely about 14 percent, was caused by negligent actions. This often affects the general public, such as camper and visitors in the forest or children.

The effectiveness of the current extinguishing work and preventive measures is underlined by this statistical data. In 2023, only 69 forest fires were registered on an area of ​​around 61 hectares, which represents 4.9 percent of the entire forest fires caused. It remains to be seen to what extent the cause of the current fire can be informed.