700 helpers in action

Four major fires kept firefighters busy

The square barn in St. Thomas am Blasenstein caught fire.

(Bild: Werner Kerschbaummayr)

It was an extremely busy night for the firefighters in Upper Austria. Four major fires kept around 700 firefighters busy. The buildings were destroyed in two of the fires and one person had to be taken to hospital injured. Some of the operations were still ongoing on Thursday morning.

The first major alarm was received by the fire departments in the Mühlviertel region shortly after 8 pm on Wednesday. A fire broke out at a waste disposal company in Herzogsdorf directly on the B127 and the smoke development was enormous. Residents were asked to keep windows and doors closed. A level two alert was issued and a total of twelve fire departments were involved in extinguishing the fire.

Inn victim of the flames
Shortly after midnight, the sirens went off in Pfarrkirchen im Mühlkreis. A huge pile of wood was ablaze. The helpers had their hands full trying to prevent an even bigger forest fire.

A large fire broke out in an inn in Eschenau in the Hausruckkreis district on Thursday night. Shortly after midnight - at 00:38 - the fire department's sirens began to wail. The fire department issued a level 3 alert and 17 fire departments were deployed. When they arrived, the building was already fully engulfed in flames, but the firefighters were able to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring buildings. The pub itself was badly damaged by the fire.

The pub was severely damaged by the fire.

(Bild: Matthias Lauber/laumat.at)

The fire in the roof area was contained with the help of the telescopic mast platform, but the photovoltaic system on the roof made the extinguishing measures more difficult, as did the freshening wind. The police began investigating the cause of the fire during the night.

60 animals saved from the flames
Shortly before three o'clock in the morning, the next alarm was raised in the Mühlviertel: the emergency services were called to a large fire on a farm in Sankt Thomas am Blasenstein. More than 200 firefighters from 22 different fire departments tried to get the flames under control. The farm was completely destroyed and the extinguishing work proved to be difficult. Fire departments with tankers from all over the district and farmers with slurry barrels transported extinguishing water to the scene.

The majority of the residential building could be protected. There were also around 60 cows in the barn. According to initial information, all the animals were probably saved. The owner of the farm, who had discovered the fire, had to be taken to hospital with minor injuries.