Black Hawks were also in action against Inferno – Burgenland

since Friday afternoon rages in Illmitz (Neusiedl am See district) a reed fire. Because sparking due to drought and wind made life difficult for the emergency services even overnight, the fire had to be extinguished on Saturday. Two Black Hawk helicopters from the Austrian Armed Forces were also used to combat them.

Around 10:30 a.m. the helicopters were in action and took turns bringing water to the fireplace. Both helicopters are equipped with an extinguishing container with a volume of 3,000 liters. Water from Lake Neusiedl was used directly. The effort quickly paid off. District fire brigade commander Ronald Stankovics soon spoke of a foreseeable end of operations.

“The extinguishing work was difficult for the fire brigade without helicopters – on the land side there was swampy area, in the water it was too shallow to come by fire engines,” said Alois Kracher from the Illmitz fire brigade. “You can’t get to the source of the fire, which is several hundred meters inside the reed belt,” says Kracher. In the meantime, however, the fire could be brought under control.