On Wednesday, a fire broke out in an army training area in the village of Großmittel, where the flames spread quickly due to the drought. The army and fire brigade are working together to fight the flames. 

The army is deployed with five helicopters, NBC defense forces and tanks to fight the flames and hot spots. Use on the training ground is made more difficult by the danger of duds in this area.

"The cooperation between our armed forces and the civilian emergency services is running smoothly. Our soldiers have been working together with the fire brigade for days to put out the embers and flames. I wish the deployed soldiers good luck as soldiers and all civilian forces a lot of perseverance for this demanding task," said Austria's Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP).

When there is a fire at TÜPl Großmittel, not only the civil fire brigades are called upon. Various parts of the army are also deployed. The armored personnel carriers ULAN of the PzGrenB35 draw fire protection aisles and observe the embers with their thermal imaging devices. The NBC defense experts are fighting the fires with their fire engines. They are supported by fire engines from the HMunA Großmittel and an armored fire engine from the Allentsteig military training area. An OH-58 helicopter uses its infrared camera to identify sources of fire, 3 other helicopters - 2 Aloutte III and 1 Black Hawk - drop fire-fighting water on these sources of fire.