Woman (34) rescued – After a series of false alarms, smoke actually rose

Five alarm calls in one night, more than 180 in two and a half years – but there was never a fire! A mentally disabled and apparently drug-sick woman has been keeping the Wattens fire brigade busy for years.

Just missed the tragedy
On Friday morning, the Florianijüngers were called again to the 34-year-old’s home address. But this time it wasn’t a false alarm: a neighbor had called the emergency services! “When we arrived on the scene, we already smelled a strong smell of smoke in the stairwell of the apartment building and the fire alarm was active in the lady’s apartment,” fire chief Martin Schrott told the “Krone”. The door was immediately broken open and the tenant was found unconscious on the couch in her smoke-filled apartment.

“We then took her outside, where luckily she came back,” says the operational manager. The 34-year-old was taken to hospital with suspected smoke poisoning. “If the smoke had gone unnoticed and the neighbor had not raised the alarm, the woman would probably not be alive,” said Schrott, who was relieved that no real fire had broken out. “On a window day, when there were certainly some residents still in bed, this could have resulted in a real tragedy.” Fortunately, no one had to be evacuated.

Burnt food as a cause of fire alarm
The cause of the heavy smoke development was quickly identified. “There was charred food on the stove, which was already bright red,” Schrott explains. In addition to ten Florianijüngers from Wattens, ten colleagues from the Kolsass fire brigade were also present.