Forest fire, search operation

800 emergency personnel at disaster control exercise

The fire department's effectiveness was required to extinguish the forest fire.(Bild: Christian Schulter)

Disaster relief units from the fire department, the Red Cross and the police trained for emergencies in southern Burgenland.

The roar of helicopters, the whirring of drones, dogs barking and wailing sirens: On Saturday, the area around Stadtschlaining was the scene of a cross-border emergency exercise. Disaster relief units from the Burgenland, Styrian and Hungarian fire departments as well as employees from the Oberwart district administration, the Red Cross, the police, the dog squadron and the air services took part.

Forest fire and search for missing persons
The approximately 800 participants in the exercise had to deal with two scenarios. On the one hand, a forest fire had to be extinguished and on the other, a missing person had to be found in the Schönau area. The exercise was led by the Stadtschlaining municipal fire department under Chief of Operations Wolfgang Gruber and Standby Commander Markus Rehling.

Provincial Councillor Heinrich Dorner (right) was on site to get an idea of how the cross-border exercise went.(Bild: LMS)

Well prepared
Provincial commander Franz Kropf and district commander Wolfgang Kinelly's assessment was positive: "Our emergency services are well prepared to deal with major incidents. They are highly motivated and work well as a team with the other emergency organizations."

Record investment in civil protection
The joint drills are an important contribution to strengthening the emergency services, said Provincial Councillor Heinrich Dorner, who visited the site to see for himself. According to Dorner, the challenges facing the emergency services are becoming ever greater. This is why 20 million euros are to be invested in disaster control by 2027 - a record!