Rescue in the mountains: Fire brigade fights against devilish embers!

Rescue in the mountains: Fire brigade fights against devilish embers!

In the Rax Schneeberg area, more precisely at Schwarzau in the mountains, a devastating forest fire broke out on Saturday morning. The fire was probably triggered by a burning vehicle, and due to strong winds, the flames quickly spread to an adjacent forest. The fire was finally brought under control on Sunday afternoon, with the area affected to be limited to about eight hectares. District fire brigade commander Josef Huber said that up to 340 helpers and five fire -fighting helicopters were in action on Saturday, on Sunday there were 320 emergency services and three helicopters to fight the embers. According to Huber, some fire brigade members were slightly injured.

The fire brigade

The fire brigade still faces an "extremely exhausting commitment in the steep terrain", Huber continues in an interview with Noe.ORF.at. Often the helpers had to crawl on all fours to the individual embers, burdened with heavy equipment of up to 18 kilograms. From Monday morning, new embers were tracked down with thermal imaging cameras and the floor was torn down in order to delete them in a targeted manner. An optimistic weather forecast with little wind gives the operations management hope to be able to contain the fire, even if the complete control could take a few more days.

A review of past events shows that the area was already haunted by a huge forest fire in 2021, which affected over 115 hectares and required the use of almost 9,000 helpers. This historical fire represented one of the most complex extinguishing rates of the past decades and required tireless cooperation between the emergency services. In view of the current fire, many are concerned in the region and hope for a rapid solution to this dangerous situation, while the fire brigade remains in use until the final all -clear, as Puls24.at reported.