A massive fire broke out late Friday afternoon in a storage hall at a recycling facility in Pill, in the Tyrolean district of Schwaz. The cause of the blaze remains unknown. Towering flames and thick smoke were visible for miles, prompting a large-scale emergency response involving multiple fire brigades.
Authorities issued an AT-Alert, a regional warning system that sends messages directly to mobile phones, covering the area between Wattens (Innsbruck-Land) and the district capital Schwaz. Residents were urged to stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed, and shut off ventilation and air conditioning systems.
By evening, firefighters reported they had largely contained the blaze. “The situation is under control,” said district police chief Hansjörg Eberharter. While heavy smoke drifted eastward, no residential areas were affected. Fire crews continued working into the night, removing residual waste from the hall to extinguish smoldering hotspots outdoors.
Eberharter said smaller flare-ups were still possible, but the main fire was suppressed. Operations were expected to last until late evening.
This was not the first fire at the site. In February, large amounts of residual waste ignited overnight in the same facility. That incident was brought under control after about four hours, and investigators later determined it was caused by spontaneous combustion.
