Residents evacuated

Battery exploded and set the apartment on fire

80 firefighters were deployed(Bild: FF Ebensee)

A battery exploded with a loud bang in an apartment in Ebensee on Saturday night. A fire broke out and the owner of the apartment was slightly injured while trying to extinguish it. The entire apartment building had to be evacuated for a short time due to the heavy smoke development.

A couple from Ebensee had bought a battery on an online trading platform to charge a bicycle trailer. At around midnight on Saturday, the device exploded in the apartment, triggering a fire.

Attempt to extinguish failed
The 51-year-old resident was on the balcony when she heard the loud bang and, together with her 53-year-old husband, tried to extinguish the fire. When this failed, the two of them called the emergency services and left the apartment with their two dogs.

One injured
Four fire departments arrived to extinguish the fire and were able to put it out at around 1.15 am. As the apartment building was very smoky, all 14 apartments had to be evacuated for a short time. The 51-year-old woman suffered minor burns, her husband was unharmed. Thanks to the rapid intervention of the firefighters, the damage in the apartment was limited to one room.