After the inferno

Soil and water contaminated after major fire

The day after shows the immense destruction of the hall that was in danger of collapsing.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

The Salzburg company Maco is facing millions in damages after the fire. 60,000 liters of acid leaked out. The clean-up will take months. A lot of contaminated soil will have to be removed and waste water pumped out.

The operation lasted twelve hours for around 125 men and women from the Salzburg city fire department. At around 10 a.m. on Friday, fire chief Werner Kloiber announced the obligatory "fire out". Throughout the night, the Floriani firefighters had battled the flames, which were several meters high and leaping towards the sky from the Maco metal processing company in the south of the city.