“It was not at the last minute, it was in the last second!” – This is how the fire department commander Christoph Schipflinger describes the nightly use in the Tyrolean Kirchberg, after a shed fire had spread to two houses. In one of the house were five residents who had to flee barefoot.
Almost at the same time witnesses reported on Tuesday at 00:30 clock the fire in the Bahnhofstrasse. At first, flames had burst in a firewood-filled, open shed, then moved to the adjoining residential building. “I was there first and the people were still in it,” explains fire department commander Schipflinger about the dramatic situation.
On the ground floor, he came across the residents, the makeshift clothed or wanted to take the cat or valuables. “I shouted loudly that everybody has to leave immediately. It was high time,” says Schipflinger.
In the wake of the evacuation of people (26, 42, 52, 59 and 81 years), it suddenly said that a resident was missing. The fire chief wanted to go back in the house again – “but I had no chance”. With heavy respiratory protection the Florianijünger combed the premises. Fortunately, the “missing” resident had already gone to a restaurant in the center of town before the fire.
After two and a half hours of use, “Fire Out” signal was given. The garden of house was totally destroyed, the house was heavily damaged. “In the second house, there was a burst windows, but we were able to save it quickly,” said Schipflinger of the “perfectly executed mission”. The evacuees were temporarily lodged in a hotel. A fire investigator is now trying to find out why the fire in the garden shed suddenly broke out.
Sources: Krone Zeitung