Faulty heating system sends smoke through Altmünster hotel

A faulty wood-chip heating system caused heavy smoke in a hotel in Altmünster in the Gmunden district on Saturday evening, ORF reported. Guests reached the outside safely, and no one was injured.

The fire brigade was called to the hotel at about 8:45 p.m. The automatic heating system had stopped working properly, causing the fuel to smoulder instead of burning completely. Dense smoke spread from the basement into the stairwell.

Most of the guests were already outside when firefighters arrived. Wearing breathing apparatus, they entered the basement and carried the smouldering material outside in small containers because of the confined conditions. They then extinguished it.

After firefighters cleared the stairwell of smoke, the guests were allowed to return to the hotel.

At about 10 p.m., while the operation was still under way, firefighters received a second call about a suspected balcony fire in nearby Marktstraße. A resident had reported smoke and flames on a balcony. Some of the crews left the hotel, and the Eben/Nachdemsee fire brigade was also alerted.

Firefighters found a controlled fire at the scene. They checked the building facade with a thermal imaging camera for possible embers but took no further action. Both operations ended shortly after 11 p.m.