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AustriaGermany Fire Wave: Boy, 12, Admits Starting Innsbruck Wildfire as Separate Blazes Kill, Injure and Displace Residents

Investigators attribute the Tyrol wildfire to pyrotechnics, with cause probes continuing at other fires.

Overview

  • Innsbruck police say a 12-year-old confessed to igniting pyrotechnics that sparked the Nordkette fire; crews are still digging out numerous hotspots with police and Bundesheer helicopters supporting operations.
  • The Nordkette blaze began Saturday near Höttinger Alm at about 1,500 meters, scorched roughly eight hectares and involved around 140–150 firefighters, with officials cautioning work would extend into Monday.
  • In Rotenburg (Wümme), a historic multi-unit house burned overnight; more than 150 responders battled the fire as five residents were hospitalized and search efforts for three unaccounted people were curtailed by collapse risk.
  • A Mainhausen industrial complex fire caused an estimated €3 million in damage; police reported sighting a lifeless person believed to be a 64-year-old man inside, with recovery planned once the unstable structure is secured.
  • Other weekend incidents included a fatal house fire in Hennstedt, a Martfeld rescue where a 67-year-old died at the scene, and multiple blazes in Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine–Westphalia and Hesse leaving homes uninhabitable and prompting investigations into suspected technical defects.