Church saved

Major fire in Carinthia kept fire departments on their toes

The houses in the St. Leonhard district are close together, making the firefighting operation particularly challenging.(Bild: ww.bfkdo-villachland.at )

Setting up water pipes from the stream, firefighting work using turntable ladders and breathing apparatus: a fire in a farm building in Siebenbrünn-Riegersdorf in Carinthia took a good 180 firefighters from ten fire departments.

The sirens sounded at 2.50 am on Saturday night: The fire departments of the municipality of Arnoldstein were called to a fire in a farm building.

The building in the St. Leonhard district is on fire. The area is densely built-up, so the flames have already spread to the roof of the residential building. The two residents were able to get to safety in time. The firefighters immediately launch an external attack: they want to protect the nearby church by extinguishing the fire.

The incident commander, section fire brigade commander Michael Miggitsch, requests additional fire departments via the regional alarm and warning center.

Water has to be brought in
Water is scarce, so the firefighters lay feeder lines from the nearby Feistritzbach stream. Tanker fire engines also set up a shuttle service from Fürnitz and Gödersdorf to bring enough extinguishing water to the scene.

Enormous smoke development
Two turntable ladders are used to extinguish the fire at the house and protect other surrounding buildings. The work has to be carried out under heavy breathing protection, the smoke development is enormous.

180 firefighters from ten fire brigades in action
A good 180 firefighters from the Siebenbrünn-Riegersdorf, Arnoldstein, Fürnitz, Gödersdorf, Pöckau-Lind, Seltschach-Agoritschach, Thörl-Maglern, Kerschdorf-Wertschach and Villach main fire stations and the Pogöriach fire department are deployed. 

The police closed the access road to the village of St. Leonhard and set up a detour. The cause of the fire is still unclear. The State Office of Criminal Investigation is taking over the investigation. Fire departments are still in action: pockets of embers require their attention.