A known arsonist set fire again early Saturday morning in his own apartment in a multiunit building in Vienna-Ottakring. At around 5:15 AM, officers from the Koppstraße police station were alerted to a blaze at a building on Lerchenfelder Gürtel, the police reported on Sunday. The Vienna Fire Department had already begun extinguishing the fire. No one was injured.
Several residents evacuated their apartments due to heavy smoke and were attended by emergency medical services. Once the fire was out, the tenant whose apartment had burned approached police and confessed on the spot that he had started the fire himself. “The man said he felt an inner urge to set things alight,” the police spokesperson told APA. The suspect is believed to suffer from a mental illness.
The 46-year-old Austrian has been convicted of arson three times before and has served prison time. A blood-alcohol test showed he had nearly 1.5 ‰. He was provisionally arrested and taken to the detention area of the Ottakring city police command.
Significant Damage
Experts estimate the damage from the fire at several tens of thousands of euros. Vienna’s State Criminal Police arson unit has taken over the investigation. The 46-year-old was charged with arson and, by order of the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, transferred to a correctional facility.
