It does not happen every day in Mittenwald that at dusk you can see almost 30 uniformed men trudging through the town armed with aluminum shovels.
This picture arose on Monday - for good reason.
Mittenwald
- "The extinguishing water supply was no longer guaranteed", reports the new fire brigade commander Karl Seitz.
The "Damele-Kare" alludes to a real problem: Due to the heavy snowfall of the past few days, countless hydrants were literally swallowed by the white masses.
Which in most cases was not due to Mother Nature.
A large number of residents apparently shoveled or tilled the snow along many streets in the direction of these extremely important tapping points.
Some of the snow poles also broke.
These are always placed by the building yard employees as a precautionary measure in order to mark the more than 200 hydrant locations in the market town.
If these bars are also gone, things get difficult.
“We found some hydrants based on plans,” reports Seitz.
A total of 29 men were on duty on Monday evening from 4.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“We were finished just in time for the curfew.” But not completely finished, although around 100 hydrants had to be freed from an ice shell.
We finished just in time for the curfew.
Fire Brigade Commander Karl Seitz
The day before, the commander and equipment attendant James Costa had set out for the inspection drive.
It quickly became clear to Seitz: “There is an urgent need for action.” Particularly severe cases were pretreated with the wheel loader the following afternoon.
Otherwise it would have been really tough for the shovel troop.
It is not often that the fire brigade has to look for a hydrant.
Usually the building yard shovels these free.
However, due to the constant snowfall, its workforce was ultimately tied to the evacuation and removal.
So Seitz and Co jumped in.
In this context, the commandant appeals to all Mittenwald residents to keep the hydrants free as much as possible.
Because even in winter it could burn.
Incidentally, the shovel campaign was not the only special order from the Mittenwald weir.
Between Friday and Monday, a total of six so-called technical assistance had to be carried out as quickly as possible.
Fallen trees or those that threatened to fall on the road had to be removed for safety reasons near the Husselmühle, on the Straßwald on the B 2 and on the Leutascher Straße.
Speaking of which: this route to Tyrol will remain closed until Thursday tomorrow.
That was the result of a visit by the Mittenwald and Leutasch avalanche experts yesterday.
Due to the expected onset of the foehn, the snow will be even more humid and therefore heavier.
Which could lead to further snow break in this neuralgic area.
"On Friday we will reassess the situation," said Hermann Baier, the head of the municipality.
