Five injured in house fire in Lower Austria – Austria

A fire in a residential building in the center of Purgstall an der Erlauf in the Scheibbs district caused five injuries, including three children, to be injured on Sunday morning. As fire department spokesman Franz Resperger announced, a man suffered severe injuries.  The  injured were transported to hospitals. According to Sonja Kellner from the Red Cross, the receiving hospitals were the Scheibbs and Amstetten state clinics. 117 members from five fire departments were on duty.

 The  flames broke out in the two-story apartment building with a loft at around 7 a.m.  The  fire brigade received numerous emergency calls. While eight people left the building independently, an adult and a child were brought out of the building by helpers. In the case of the man, another resident of the apartment building intervened courageously. According to Resperger, the fire brigade member saw the seriously injured “lying in the stairwell and rescued him outside”.

According to the Red Cross spokeswoman, the three injured children were waiters aged five to ten years. As with the two hospitalized adults, there was a suspicion of smoke gas poisoning. Lighter burns were also registered.

During the extinguishing work, the helpers proceeded under breathing protection and with the help of turntable ladders. After about an hour and a half, the fire was under control, stressed Resperger.  The re were also five ambulances and two ambulance vehicles on site.