Residents rescued

Two fires kept Vienna’s fire brigade on its toes on Sunday

Fortunately, nobody was injured in the two fires in Vienna on Sunday!

(Bild: Stadt Wien | Feuerwehr )

Two room fires kept the Vienna Fire Brigade on its toes on Sunday. More than 66 firefighters were deployed in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Liesing. No one was injured. In one case, the owner of the apartment had the presence of mind to prevent the smoke from spreading to neighboring apartments.

A kitchen fire broke out in a block of flats on Kanitzgasse in Liesing around midday. The fire was fought by firefighters using a fire hose and breathing apparatus. According to Feiler, the fleeing tenant acted exactly right in the dicey situation: she closed the apartment door behind her as she left. As a result, the stairwell remained smoke-free and all the neighbors were able to remain undisturbed in their own four walls. A high-performance fan only had to be used there and in one apartment where there was a small amount of smoke.

Closing the door helps enormously
"If those affected in this hectic situation manage to remember to remove the key when escaping and close the apartment door behind them, this helps enormously in the situation," said fire department spokesperson Christian Feiler. The apartment can then be opened with a smoke curtain and the smoke remains in the affected unit and does not spread any further.

(Bild: Stadt Wien | Feuerwehr )

An opposite case occurred in Felberstraße in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus. In the early hours of the morning, a room fire broke out on the second floor of an old apartment building for unknown reasons. When the fire department arrived, thick smoke was already billowing out of two apartment windows on the second floor. The entire stairwell was also very smoky. The fleeing tenant left the door to his apartment open when he left.

Four people rescued via windows
The firefighters extinguished the fire via the stairwell using a fire hose and breathing apparatus. At the same time, the turntable ladder was deployed to bring four people to safety outside via the windows. Eight more people were rescued from inside the building using escape filter hoods. Extensive ventilation measures were then required throughout the building.