Because a 48-year-old homeowner noticed a smell of fire in his home in Rassnig, in the area of Dellach in the Carinthian Drautal, early in the morning on Thursday, he asked his neighbor to keep a fire watch when he drove to work. At around 8 a.m., the woman noticed a strong build-up of smoke in the area of the chimney and immediately notified the fire brigade. When the weirs arrived, the fireplace was already burning.
The Drautaler had even checked his chimney for cracks and leaks, but could not see any open fire. Fortunately, he asked his neighbor for a fire watch because he had to drive to work. When the notified fire brigade of the Upper Drautal section arrived at the house, the chimney fire had already spread to the roof structure. Extensive extinguishing measures were carried out by the fire brigades. “To make things even more difficult, however, was the fact that the roof area was under a layer of snow a good 30 centimeters thick, which we first had to remove,” said the Dellach fire brigade. Only then could the roof structure around the chimney be opened and finally the fire could also be fought from above. Because of the heavy smoke development, the fire fighting attack could only be carried out with heavy breathing protection. Other fire brigades in the area and the lifting platform in the upper Drautal section also had to be alerted. Fortunately, nobody was in the house and nobody was injured. The Dellach fire brigade in the Drautal with 19 men as well as Stein, Drassnitzdorf, Irschen, Berg, Greifenburg and Spittal / Drau were on duty.
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