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Even yesterday in the early afternoon, “fire out” could not be given after a large fire in a farmhouse in Stroheim (Eferding district), which was triggered by a lightning strike on Tuesday night. “We will set up a fire station during the night, and the work will continue the following morning,” said commander Helmut Sandmeier of the Stroheim volunteer fire department yesterday afternoon to the OÖ Nachrichten.
Dangerous nests of embers in the hay made life difficult for the emergency services well into the evening. Again and again flaring embers had to be extinguished with water cannons. The fire was at least brought under control yesterday afternoon.
According to the police, the fire in the cattle barn may have been triggered by a lightning strike during a strong thunderstorm. The 33-year-old owner tried with his 60-year-old father to get the fire under control with a fire extinguisher, but this did not work. Until the fire brigade arrived, the men drove the cattle out of the barn. The old farmer’s wife living in the house, her daughter-in-law and her grandson were able to get to safety unharmed. The 60-year-old old farmer had overexerted himself and was taken to the hospital in Wels by the ambulance. The 17 fire brigades from the area that had responded could not prevent the flames from spreading to the adjacent residential building. According to the police, a total of 250 firefighters were deployed.
The water shortage on site caused problems for the emergency services: extinguishing water had to be procured from further away. “We were always afraid that something would happen there. Now it has happened,” said Sandmeier.
A total of 25 fire brigades with numerous emergency services were on the road across Upper Austria on Tuesday night after storm damage.
Storm damage fixed
The focus was around Natternbach in the northern part of the Grieskirchen district. But fire brigades also had to move out in the surrounding districts. It was mainly about flooding, and the emergency services were also called to a few storm damage, says Markus Voglhuber, press spokesman for the state fire brigade command.
Source: Nachrichten
