A black column of smoke over St. Veit in Carinthia greeted the volunteer fire brigades of St. Veit, St. Donat and Obermühlbach-Schauboden as they turned out to a garage fire around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. That is why other surrounding fire brigades were immediately alerted.
“When we arrived, the garage in the house was already fully engulfed in flames and the flames spread to the porch at the back of the building,” the St. Veit Fire Department said. “The rafter had already caught fire.” Not only four cars parked in the garage went up in flames completely, gas cylinders stored there also caught fire and some exploded.
In combination with the enormous amount of smoke, this posed a considerable risk for the emergency services. A 28-year-old resident had tried to get the fire under control himself and suffered serious smoke poisoning.
Difficult extinguishing work
With heavy respiratory protection on, the fire brigade started the first extinguishing action to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring objects. “In the first phase, the fire extinguishing water supply caused problems because the fire hydrant network quickly became overloaded,” reports the FF St. Veit. “That is why a tank trailer with 14,000 liters of fire extinguishing water had to be requested. In addition, a shuttle service was set up with several tank fire trucks.”
The fire was under control after more than 90 minutes, but embers in the roof section made the subsequent extinguishing work even longer – the roof membrane had to be opened one by one.
Interference by spectators
Numerous spectators knocked out the emergency services during this dramatic operation. “That is why several instructions had to be issued. One person even refused despite repeated requests,” the police said. “We had to physically remove the bystander who was reported from the area.”
Block traffic and electricity
A high-voltage line ran directly above the residential building, which was switched off by the emergency service of Kelag during the extinguishing work. As a result, several households were without power during this period. “The surrounding streets had to be closed to all traffic,” the police said. “These locks could not be lifted again until 9:30 p.m. with the fire.”
The extent of the damage and the cause of the fire have not yet been determined – the investigation will be carried out by the district fire detective and the Carinthian criminal investigation department. A total of 118 firefighters with 24 vehicles, nine Red Cross men and the police with eight officers were deployed.
Source: Krone
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