Hallein secures critical services with blackout fuel reserve

The municipality of Hallein in Tennengau will be able to draw on a new fuel depot to keep critical services running for about 14 days during a blackout, ORF reports.

The depot, completed this year by fuel station operator Leikermoser, was presented on Friday. It can store almost three million litres of fuel and is intended to safeguard regional fuel supplies across the state. It is ready for use, operator Franz Leikermoser said.

Hallein will have access to 70,000 litres of diesel in a blackout. Mayor Alexander Stangassinger said this would help maintain the water supply, keep emergency vehicles operating and allow snowploughs and refuse collection vehicles to continue working if the outage occurred in winter.

The fuel would also keep the municipality’s five emergency bases open for about 14 days. Residents can go there for information, and people stranded in Hallein can stay overnight.

Stangassinger said he no longer considered a blackout a question of whether it would happen, but when.