No hydrant nearby

Stable fire due to defective cable drum: cattle dead

Almost 90 firefighters were at the scene.(Bild: FF Wenns, Krone KREATIV)

A fire broke out in a barn in the Pitztal valley in Tyrol on Tuesday afternoon, presumably due to a faulty cable drum. Thanks to the rapid intervention of the alerted fire department, the worst was prevented and most of the animals were saved. For one cow, however, all help came too late. The operation turned out to be difficult.

The barn fire broke out in Wenns in Pitztal shortly before 3.30 pm. When the fire department arrived, thick smoke was already billowing out of the building. "After a very short time, it turned out that there were still animals in the barn," says incident commander Lukas Scheiber.

No hydrant, long water pipes
The Imst fire department with its turntable ladder was also alerted. Due to the water shortage in the affected district of Pitzenhöfe, the incident commander also quickly requested support from the neighboring Jerzens fire department. At the same time, the firefighters who had already arrived began rescuing animals and fighting the fire while wearing heavy breathing apparatus.

Unfortunately, all help came too late for one animal. It could only be found dead.

Einsatzleiter Lukas Scheiber

Five cattle were finally brought to safety from the barn by the emergency services - out into the open with the other 65 head of cattle. "Unfortunately, all help came too late for one animal. It could only be found dead," says Scheiber.

Long lines had to be laid.(Bild: FF Wenns)

One challenge was the shortage of water on site, as there is no hydrant in this part of the village. "A 400-metre-long feeder line was quickly set up from the Pitzebach weir to the fire engines," continued the incident commander.

Worse prevented, no people injured
Ultimately, the emergency services were able to quickly bring the situation under control and extinguish the fire. The fire was prevented from spreading to other buildings. No one was injured. "A defective cable drum was identified as the probable cause of the fire," said the police. This is likely to have set a hay bale on fire.