Inferno in the Zillertal

Animals dead: Cause of hut fire clarified

(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

A private mountain hut went up in flames last Wednesday in the Tyrolean Zillertal. No people were injured, but several animals died in agony in the flames. Following the challenging firefighting operation, the police have now been able to clarify the cause of the fire.

The fire broke out in the hut in Hart im Zillertal around midday on Wednesday. The situation caused major problems for the emergency services. "As the access route to the extremely exposed section of forest was blocked by a timber winch and a timber store, initially only a small group of firefighters and police with all-terrain vehicles were able to reach the scene of the fire," it said at the time.

When the emergency services arrived, the hut was already fully engulfed in flames. In order to prevent the flames from spreading to the adjacent forest, the fire was also fought from the air by the police helicopter.

Animal tragedy
In the end, the situation was brought under control. However, the hut burned down completely. No people were injured. However, there was an animal tragedy. "There were two dogs and a cat in the hut and three rabbits in front of the hut that died," said the police.

Oven may have caused the fire
On Friday, the executive finally announced new details: According to the investigation carried out into the cause of the fire, "it can be assumed that a fire broke out in the area of a Swedish stove. Based on the findings to date, arson cannot be assumed."