Drama on the A1: Car falls from Bridge - fire brigade in large -scale use!

Drama on the A1: Car falls from Bridge - fire brigade in large -scale use!

On May 23, 2025, a demanding exercise took place on the A1 between Mondsee (Upper Austria) and Thalgau (Salzburg). This practical simulation, which was carried out under the direction of Philip Nußbaumer (FF Thalgau) and Stefan Strobl (FF Mondsee), was designed in response to a simulated "serious traffic accident", in which a car had fallen from a bridge. The alarm reported “several seriously injured”, which mobilized 107 emergency services from the fire brigade, red cross, motorway police and ASFINAG. Operations manager Walter Hemetsberger (FF Mondsee) coordinated the processes during the two and a half hours of exercise.

The exercise included three scenarios, each representing different emergency challenges. In the first scenario, a car fell from the Ölschrabenbrücke and landed in the stream bed of the adjacent forest. Two people were caught in the vehicle here, of whom serious injuries had suffered. In addition, fuel emerged, which also complicated the situation. The second scenario provided for a car in the construction site area to get off the A1. A guiding rail pierced the vehicle, whereby the handlebar was seriously injured, while the passenger thrown out of the car and landed in the construction site area.

complex rescue measures

The third scenario included the search for a missing inmate in the forest below the bridge. The special circumstances required an elaborate use, since the area under the bridge was not accessible with emergency vehicles. The fire brigade Thalgau and Guggenberg were responsible for rescue under the bridge, while the Mondsee fire brigade took over the rescue at the car. The cooperation between the fire brigades from Upper Austria and Salzburg and with the Red Cross Teams went smoothly, which speaks for effective technical assistance.

Technical assistance is one of the main tasks of fire brigades, especially in traffic accidents. According to Feuerwehr-kirchberg.de, the rescue of trapped people requires a wide range of skills. The fire brigade regularly carries out exercises to simulate exercises for complex traffic accidents. The activities in technical assistance include stabilizing the vehicle, creating access and the actual exemption of the patients by using special equipment.

accident statistics in context

The relevance of such exercises increases in view of the high number of traffic accidents. In 2019, around 387,276 people in Germany had a crashed in traffic accidents. These figures make it clear how important it is that emergency services are optimally prepared in order to be able to act quickly and efficiently in emergency situations.

The implementation of exercises is essential to train the emergency services for the diverse challenges in traffic accidents technically and tactically well, including the Bludenz fire brigade, which comes out about 50 to 70 times for technical assistance annually. The adaptation of the equipment to current circumstances is also of great importance in order to meet the requirements like more frequent alarms after storm events. Fireworld reports that the technical assistance is almost two thirds of the total number of fire brigades, and thus shows the importance of this application category.

Overall, the exercise on May 23, 2025 not only strengthened the technical skills of the emergency services, but also demonstrated the cooperation between the different units, which is crucial in an emergency.

Further information can be found on Fireworld , Kirchberg and .