Image: Colourbox
The 31-year-old was caught in the act of lighting straw bales around midnight on Saturday, the executive announced on Sunday by broadcast. The man was taken to the local police station for questioning. After seven fires since Friday of the previous week, the fire brigade was on duty again on Saturday.
“There should be a connection with the previous fires in Wulkaprodersdorf,” said the Burgenland police after the arrest. “The State Criminal Police Office has taken over the investigation,” it said on request. The suspect is an Austrian citizen. The man’s interrogation was ongoing on Sunday.
The emergency services were alerted late Saturday evening. “Several emergency calls were received,” said the state security center on request. A covered pile of wood and bales of straw were on fire, and there was also a smaller fire on the Wulka embankment, as the ORF also reported. According to the state security center, four fire brigades were involved in the extinguishing work.
A self-ignition is excluded, a connection with the series of fires that has been ongoing since Friday of the previous week is assumed, the police said on Sunday. There have been a total of ten fires since Friday of the previous week. The executive announced that it was the same procedure in each case. Nobody got hurt.
Straw bales, a garden fence and a roof truss were on fire last Wednesday. The fire brigade was on duty, the affected building was destroyed. On the Friday before, bales of straw, a mown field and a telephone booth that had been converted into a book cell also burned. The fire was extinguished by passers-by, police said.
According to a “Krone” online report, the suspect is said to be a man who was found guilty in 2015 for a series of fires in Müllendorf, a few kilometers away. The father of the family is said to have been released from prison recently, and the conviction is said not to have been for arson.
Source: Nachrichten
