Arson clarified

18-year-old started the fire in the cellar himself

Only the rapid intervention of the fire department prevented a catastrophe.

(Bild: P. Huber)

The 18-year-old from Bad Ischl, who claimed to have discovered a fire in the cellar early on Saturday and had his mother call the emergency services, confessed to having started the fire himself when questioned by the police. The fire had spread rapidly, but the 20 tenants were unharmed.

After a suspicious cellar fire early on Saturday morning in Bad Ischl, the cause of the fire has now been clarified: the 18-year-old, who claimed to have noticed the fire in a publicly accessible cellar room of the apartment building when he came home at around 5.30 a.m., confessed during questioning that he had started the four fires himself. He then woke his mother, who finally called the emergency services.

Great danger for residents
A bicycle tire, wooden pallets and two foam mattresses had caught fire in the basement of the house. The fire spread rapidly and would probably have caused devastating damage if the fire department had not intervened so quickly. The smoke had even reached the top floor and all 20 apartments had to be evacuated. However, no one was injured apart from the 18-year-old from Bad Ischl, who was now revealed as the arsonist and had to be taken to hospital due to smoke inhalation.