A 57-year-old man died in an apartment fire on Saturday in Gußhausstraße, located in Vienna’s Wieden district. The fire broke out on the fourth floor of a multi-unit residential building and was first noticed by police officers on patrol who saw smoke rising from the building. The professional fire brigade was immediately alerted and responded around 9:00 p.m. with six vehicles and 27 personnel.
Firefighters quickly brought the blaze under control from both inside and outside the building, fire department spokesperson Martin Hofbauer said on Sunday. Before the fire brigade arrived, police officers had already begun evacuating residents from the building.
Due to the smoke, the stairwell had to be ventilated after the fire was extinguished. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the arson unit of the Vienna State Criminal Police Office, though arson is currently not suspected, according to the Vienna police.
Due to the large number of emergency responders on-site, surrounding streets were temporarily closed by police. The firefighting operation ended after about one hour.
