Large exercise on the Feuerkogel: Fire brigade is fighting fictional forest fire!

Large exercise on the Feuerkogel: Fire brigade is fighting fictional forest fire!

On May 31, 2025, a large -scale exercise for combating forest fires took place on the Feuerkogel in the municipality of Ebensee, Upper Austria. The exercise simulated a widened forest fire near the mountain station of the cable car at a height of around 1,600 meters. Shortly after 7 a.m., four fire departments of the Ebensee compulsory area were alerted to face the challenge of the assumed fire. During the first situation assessment, it turned out that a mountain punch was burned and sparking flight had caused an additional fire on the Langwandkogel.

In order to react effectively to the situation, a management staff in the Ebensee fire station was set up. The emergency services requested additional support, including the St. Agatha forest fire base, two helicopters from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and three fkat pump trains from the Gmunden district. The mountain rescue in Ebensee was also alerted to carry out security measures.

technical equipment and implementation

For the water supply during use, stand containers for extinguishing water were positioned on the mountain. A relay line with a length of 3,800 meters and a height difference of 512 meters was installed to ensure a continuous water supply. A total of 13 portable injections were used to intensify the extinguishing measures. The mountain rescue ensured that the extinguishing teams on the Langwandkogel were able to work in safety.

The exercise took around six hours, with a debriefing in the Ebensee fire station at around 3 p.m. The food was helpful for this process, which was provided by the Red Cross Ebensee. The exercises brought valuable knowledge for future major events and praised the cooperation of the various rescue organizations.

prevention and security strategies

In addition, preventive measures such as the creation of forest fire operations cards are important. These maps provided by the authorities contain crucial information, such as extinguishing water withdrawal and transport infrastructure. For larger forest fire events, more detailed area cards can be used to ensure better orientation for the emergency services. Such cards are also essential for the operations management and serve the management of the emergency services to make effective decisions.

Overall, the exercise on the Feuerkogel led to positive findings, which should help to be prepared even better in the future for the challenge of forest fires. Thanks go to the many participants, in particular the district specialist for vegetation fire fighting HBI d.F. Markus Kogler as well as all fire brigade members and supporting organizations for their tireless efforts.