For reasons that are still unclear, a fire broke out in the basement of the house late on Saturday afternoon.
When the emergency services arrived, who had been alerted by the residents, thick smoke was already coming from the basement into the stairwell and through the open front door in the direction of the sidewalk. Residents made themselves felt at several windows, and some fled the building coughing.
Two rescue teams from the professional fire brigade in Linz searched the smoky stairwell for people with respiratory protection equipment and brought them outside, while an attack team fought the full fire in a basement compartment at the same time.
- OO Today: Large-scale operation in the basement fire in Linz
Together with the forces of the police and the Red Cross, a total of 14 people were brought to safety from their apartments, some with the turntable ladder through the apartment window. To ensure that everyone is safe, the emergency services had to enter seven apartments through windows or broken doors.
Debris complicates investigations
Three people were hospitalized for inhaling smoke from the fire. The rescued residents were cared for at short notice in a bus provided by LinzAG. The gas supply to the property was shut off by LinzAG employees. “We found massively increased CO values in all living rooms,” says operations manager Klaus Thallinger. The apartment building is currently uninhabitable. It is still unclear what caused the fire in the basement. “Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing,” says police spokeswoman Heide Klopf. Due to the rubble and the extinguishing water, the search is difficult, a technical defect is considered unlikely according to the current status of the surveys.
The residents of the house have not yet been able to return to their apartments. At the moment everyone is staying with relatives, friends or in hotels, says Nikolaus Stadler, managing director of the GWG, which manages the house.
“We will get in touch with the residents tomorrow and will of course help them with further planning,” he says. High costs for the residents are not to be feared. “The insurance company usually steps in very quickly, so there shouldn’t be any problems. We’ll clarify everything tomorrow,” says Stadler. (elha/vaba)
Source: Nachrichten
