Fire brigades and helicopter crews have been fighting forest fires near Plansee in the Tyrolean town of Ausserfern since Thursday afternoon. It has now become known that the fires were probably lit. A suspect (36) has already been unmasked. He is in custody.
Within an hour, several fires broke out in different places on the Plansee. ““Some fires had penetrated into impassable terrain, which made extinguishing work very difficult for the alerted firefighters and sometimes even had to be stopped due to the risk of falling rocks,” the police said.
Tens of thousands of square meters affected
At around 7 p.m., firefighting efforts on the ground and from the air had to be stopped due to darkness falling. The operation finally resumed on Friday morning. According to initial estimates, approximately 30,000 square meters were affected by the fires.
Suspected fire devil caught
On Friday morning, Tyrolean police announced that the fires had apparently been set. A 36-year-old suspect was found and arrested in the “larger part of the crime scene.” “He is suspected and known to have started several fires with his lighter or lit cigarettes on Thursday between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.,” investigators said.
The local was arrested after the first interrogation taken to Innsbruck prison by order of the public prosecutor. The police cannot yet provide any information about the motive.
More than a hundred emergency services from various fire brigades and two police helicopters are fighting the forest fires. According to the director, Planseestrasse will be closed during the operation.
Source: Krone
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