Cigarettes as the cause

Weiz: Eight people rescued from burning house

The Weiz municipal fire department was able to rescue eight people from the apartment building.

(Bild: Stadtfeuerwehr Weiz)

Eight people were rescued from a house fire in Weiz, Styria, on Saturday evening. A 60-year-old man from Weiz was rescued from the flames by the fire department. Cigarette butts were piled up in his apartment.

The man was seriously injured and taken to hospital, as the Weiz municipal fire department reported in a press release. Seven other people were brought out of the smoke-filled building unharmed. Investigations by the police have revealed that numerous cigarette butts in the 60-year-old's apartment started the fire. This was announced by the police on Sunday evening.

Attentive passer-by raised the alarm
The rapid intervention of the fire department is thanks to an attentive passer-by who discovered the fire in the apartment building shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday and immediately raised the alarm. Fortunately, the house was just 300 meters away from the fire station.

When the emergency services arrived, thick smoke was already coming out of a window on the first floor. The injured 60-year-old was in the apartment on fire. "We had to rescue him from the smoke-filled apartment with burns," reports incident commander Christian Lechner, "but the fire was quickly brought under control by the breathing apparatus team and remained confined to the apartment." 

Large contingent of emergency services
28 firefighters were deployed for two and a half hours. The police and ambulance service were also on site with a total of ten men. The two deputy mayors Oswin Donnerer (SPÖ) and Monika Langs (ÖVP) also personally inspected the situation.