Severe burns

Styrian woman (41) caught in a flash fire in the boiler room

The injured woman was rescued by the rescue helicopter.(Bild: Presseteam BFVRA / Johannes Schreiner)

A 41-year-old woman was seriously injured by a jet of flame in Ratschendorf in south-eastern Styria on Tuesday evening. Tinkering in her boiler room had backfired. She was flown to Graz Regional Hospital with burns.

On Tuesday evening, tinkering with a pellet stove led to an accident with fatal consequences: A 41-year-old woman is believed to have converted a large plastic barrel into a chute for pellets in the boiler room of her home. She was working with PU foam and may also have been using a cordless screwdriver.

Dangerous combination
These two utensils turned out to be a dangerous combination: it is possible that gases collected at the bottom of the container when the PU foam hardened and were ignited by sparks from the cordless screwdriver. Out of nowhere, a jet of flame developed - the Styrian woman was no longer able to avoid it.

The Ratschendorf volunteer fire department arrived on the scene.(Bild: Presseteam BFVRA / Johannes Schreiner)

To hospital by helicopter
She suffered severe burns and had to be treated by the emergency services as quickly as possible. She was flown to Graz Regional Hospital by the Christophorus 12 rescue helicopter. The Ratschendorf fire department also arrived with twelve firefighters, but a fire operation was not necessary.