Firefighters battle forest blaze in steep terrain near Egg
Thursday 10th September 2026 on 17:45 in
Austria
About 100 firefighters and two helicopters are battling a forest fire on the Ifersgunten alpine pasture in the municipality of Egg, ORF Vorarlberg reports. The fire was reported at about 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The blaze has affected around 500 square metres, according to the mayor of Mittelberg in the Kleinwalsertal valley. The operation is being coordinated from the Kleinwalsertal because the area can only be reached from there.
The fire site itself is inaccessible on foot, so helicopters are flying firefighters, equipment and water to the scene. The steep terrain is making the firefighting particularly difficult.
According to Mayor Joachim Fritz, the fire is spreading underground from tree root to tree root through the karstic terrain. The operation is being led by the Riezlern fire brigade and includes a specialist forest-fire unit from Hohenems and a fire brigade from neighbouring Oberstaufen in Germany.
A drone flight over the area was planned for Thursday evening to provide a clearer picture of how far the fire had spread. The cause remained unclear.