Bad accident

18-year-old female driver narrowly escaped death by fire

An 18-year-old female driver was able to escape from her burning car in time.

(Bild: FF Putzleinsdorf)

An Audi A3 caught fire after crashing into a tree in Putzleinsdorf. The 18-year-old driver was able to escape from the wreck. This brought back bad memories for the Putzleinsdorf fire department commander. Almost exactly eight years ago, a woman of the same age had burned to death in her car in a very similar accident in the same region (Upper Austria).

It was by a hair's breadth. An 18-year-old from Neustift skidded in her Audi A3 in Putzleinsdorf at 12.20 p.m. on Friday due to slush on the road and her inappropriate speed. The car left the road and slid down the left embankment, where it crashed head-on into a tree.

"Luck in misfortune"
The girl was really unlucky, even if that sounds trite. She was uninjured and was able to free herself from the car. A short time later, the Audi burst into flames. Three fire departments extinguished the blaze. The burnt trees were felled by order of the district forester to prevent further damage.

Second operation in a row
This was not the end of the day for the Putzleinsdorf fire department, because at 17.46 there was another alarm, and again it was about a burning car: "Because some of our comrades were in the fire station to take the annual respiratory protection fin test, the fully manned rescue fire engine immediately set off for the scene," reports fire brigade commander Manuel Mager. After around one and a half hours of extinguishing the fire, the vehicle was handed over to the owner and the firefighters were able to return to the scene.

It's always like that with us. Nothing happens for a long time, and then there are always two operations in a row.

FF-Kommandant Manuel Mager

Bad memories
"It's always like that for us. Nothing happens for a long time and then there are always two call-outs in a row," says Commander Mager. For him, the accident with the burning Audi brought back bad memories of a very similar, but far more tragic accident on 15 January 2017 in Aigen im Mühlkreis: back then, Nadine E., also only 18 years old, crashed her car into the crash barrier in a right-hand bend on snow and then into the car of a 49-year-old woman from Klaffer. The car of the 18-year-old, who was unable to free herself, immediately caught fire, which spread to the car of the other driver. She was able to flee. Nadine, who was a cashier at the Hochficht ski lifts, burned helplessly.