Image: Daniel Scharinger (Daniel Scharinger)
“The ground is very dry everywhere,” warns City Councilor Michael Raml, who is responsible for safety, of the extreme risk of fire. Even a spark could be enough to lightly set the dry stalks on fire. If the wind picks up then, this would encourage field fires.
The appeal to the common sense of the population is to be particularly careful when smoking or handling open fire or better to refrain from doing so, even in the vicinity of meadows. “All meadows are among the places at risk of fire,” says Raml. Since the stormy rain of the last few days and nights was just a drop in the ocean, the situation would remain tense.
Smoking ban in forests
Smoking and lighting fires are generally prohibited in the Linz forests from April to the end of October. The municipal ordinance applies to all Linz forests, for example the Schiltenberg forests, the marine forest, in the Wambach area and in the Traun-Donau floodplains. In addition, the ban also includes the hazard areas, i.e. those places where soil or wind conditions favor a fire spreading to a neighboring forest. Anyone who disregards the ban must expect high penalties. Lighting and smoking are punishable by a fine of more than 7,000 euros or imprisonment for up to four weeks.
The Linz City Council also reminds that no biogenic materials may be burned outside of plants since the introduction of the Federal Clean Air Act. The selective burning of garden waste in small quantities is also not permitted. However, camp and barbecue fires or traditional fires, among other things, are excluded from this rule.
Source: Nachrichten
