Rugged Summit Terrain
Wie gross der Brand ist, ist noch unklar.
Image: dpa
A mountain forest is on fire in the Chiemgau Alps. The area near the summit is difficult to reach. To better fight the fire, the authorities have decided to take further action.
Today at 15:42
Today at 15:42The helicopters are roaring incessantly, and thick smoke is billowing down into the valley: A mountain forest in the Chiemgau Alps has caught fire. More than 200 emergency responders are battling the flames in the rugged terrain near the summit of the Hochwand, close to the Lackenbergwand near Unterwössen (Traunstein district). Authorities have declared a state of emergency.
“We’ve decided to hit the ground running,” said Traunstein District Administrator Andreas Danzer (Free Voters) near the site of the fire. He noted that rapid response and “effective assistance” are needed in fighting the fire. The lessons learned from the forest fire on the Saurüsselkopf that raged for days in May also played a role in this decision.
“The weather conditions aren’t very favorable,” Danzer said early in the afternoon. Because the wind keeps picking up, there are fears that the fire could spread rapidly. That is why assistance has been requested from Austria. Evacuations are not currently necessary. However, as a precaution, preparations are underway in case they become necessary.
Drones in Action
Due to the heavy smoke, residents in the area had been warned earlier that morning. “People are being asked to keep their windows and doors closed, turn off their ventilation and air conditioning systems, and avoid the area around the scene of the fire,” said a spokesperson for the Traunstein District Fire Department Association. Due to the firefighting efforts, Federal Highway 305 was closed in both directions.
When the alarm was raised on Wednesday evening, a distinct column of smoke was already visible near the summit at an altitude of about 1,000 meters. According to reports, approximately 2.5 hectares were affected by Thursday afternoon.
“Fighting wildfires in mountain forests is very difficult,” explained the fire department spokesperson. “It’s not like a field that’s 100 meters long and 60 meters wide—giving you 6,000 square meters. Here, the terrain goes up and down, back and forth.”
That is why drones are being used: Using thermal imaging technology, emergency responders are systematically trying to determine how many heat sources are present on the mountain. However, the drone operations would have to be coordinated with the helicopter flights, the expert explained, noting this as another challenge. It was not initially possible to determine the cause of the fire. As of now, no one has been injured.
Memories of the fire at Saurüsselkopf come flooding back
In general, the conditions at the time the fire broke out were similar to those at the nearby Saurüsselkopf near Ruhpolding in May, said the fire department spokesperson. The fire there subsequently spread to an area of about 160 hectares and had been extremely difficult to fight. It was not until a month later that the operation was finally declared over.
In the case of the current fire on the Hochwand, too, the blaze spread toward the valley during the first night. “Last night and during the night, we began setting up long stretches of hose and installing so-called circular sprinklers every few meters,” explained the fire department spokesperson. “You can think of them as large garden sprinklers. They’re used to wet down the area not affected by the fire to prevent it from spreading further.”
Shuttle service with tanker fire trucks
To this end, a shuttle service using tanker fire trucks was set up. Three firefighting helicopters were also in operation on both Wednesday evening and Thursday. Because there is no large body of water in the immediate vicinity, the fire department fills the tanks in a matter of minutes using hoses while the helicopters hover over a field in the valley.
“You can’t get to the source of the fire with vehicles,” explained the fire department spokesperson. It was initially not possible to directly fight the fire at the summit of the mountain using ground-based resources.
There is one challenge at night: Helicopters cannot fly in with water to extinguish the fire. According to the fire department, preparations were already underway in the afternoon to continue fighting the fire from the ground. The goal is also to prevent the areas that were extinguished during the day from flaring up again at night.
The dedication of the many first responders from the fire department, police, emergency medical services, and mountain rescue gives residents a sense of reassurance: “It’s pretty shocking, I have to say. Because, of course, you don’t expect something like this to ever happen,” said one resident. “But the emergency responders on the scene are great. We don’t need to be afraid right away, because they’re really capable and do their jobs well.”