Hundreds of emergency services have been fighting tirelessly since Monday against the devastating forest fire in Hirschwang, Lower Austria, in order to contain the fire, gain control of the sea of flames and prevent it from spreading to the Rax. So far, more than a million liters of water have been dropped over the area from the air alone.
A new defensive front was deployed from the ground on Wednesday. Several large tank fire engines were positioned on the B27 in order to use water cannons to prevent the flames from flashing over to the Rax side and also to minimize flying sparks. So far, this measure has also shown success. But the fire area, which is difficult to barely accessible, also makes fire fighting operations from the air urgently necessary.
Hundreds of thousands of liters of extinguishing water
According to information from the Federal Armed Forces spokesman Michael Bauer, almost 960,000 liters of water had been taken in and dropped over the area by Wednesday evening alone, and the armed forces helicopters landed 457 times up to this point and spent almost 50 hours in the air.
Hundreds of helpers on the fire
In the meantime, the one million liter mark for extinguishing water has been exceeded. On Thursday there were once again two Blackhawks on the fire, plus 500 emergency services on the ground, 400 of them from fire departments alone, including a large number of volunteers who are fighting the fire at great risk. The wind, which could further fan the flames, is still a cause for concern.
In the meantime, the search for the cause of the fire has already started. Speculation ranges from a discarded cigarette to a campfire that got out of hand. The police are therefore hoping for observations from possible eyewitnesses, as the state police headquarters told the “Krone”.