Evacuation in Linz

10 teenagers in hospital after fire in school kitchen

The cooking was too hot in the kitchen of a school in Linz on Thursday afternoon. The deep fryer caught fire and everything was quickly smoky and filled with smoke. Although the pupils and teachers reacted correctly, ten teenagers had to be taken to hospital.

It was 12.48 pm when the fire alarm went off. It automatically sounded the alarm when the heat in the kitchen became too great and the smoke too thick. An everyday alarm for the Linz professional fire department - but on the way to HBLA Landwiedstraße, they were told that there really was a fire!

"We immediately equipped breathing apparatus," says incident commander Johannes Metzger. The Red Cross was also alerted and deployed a larger team, as there were around 500 students and dozens of teachers in the school.

Kitchen and cafeteria affected
While the rescuers arrived, the young people and teachers reacted in an exemplary manner. The building was evacuated after the siren was automatically activated, a fire blanket was thrown over the deep fryer that had caught fire in the school kitchen and the fire was smothered.

"But the smoke was heavy, the kitchen and dining area were affected," says firefighter Metzger. Because the smoke happened so quickly, many of the teenagers also breathed in smoke. The Red Cross took ten teenagers with breathing problems to hospital as a precaution. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported.

Reacted perfectly
"Those present reacted perfectly, the fire was out when we arrived. We searched everything with the thermal imaging camera and ventilated the school. But because everything was so thick with smoke, it took an hour," says Johannes Metzger, head of operations, praising the young people and teachers.