A total of five firefighting helicopters were requested in the morning for support, three by the Ministry of the Interior and two by the army, said a spokesman for the Neusiedl am See district fire brigade command when asked by APA. 200 hectares of reeds have already burned down, the fire was triggered by a harvester on Wednesday.
The device caught fire in the early followingnoon, and the flames quickly spread to the reeds. In the meantime, more than 20 fire brigades from Burgenland and Lower Austria were on duty.
On Thursday morning, the spokesman said that the fire front in the direction of Breitenbrunn might be secured during the night, but the flames were now spreading north once more and with it the winds. The burnt area was surveyed using drones – it was already around 200 hectares.
Since the area is inaccessible to the emergency services, air support was requested. On the ground, the firefighters will fill the water tanks. There are currently 13 fire brigades with 26 vehicles and around 120 members on site.
