American Austrian Foundation Online

Shortly after 3 PM on Monday, April 20th a fire broke out on the roof of Schloss Arenberg, where two welders had been doing some repairs. Fire fighters arrived within minutes, but had difficulty accessing the burning wooden beams under the copper roof. Thick smoke also hindered their efforts. The fire was finally extinguished at 4AM the following day. 180 Firefighters used 3,000 liters of water per minute to try and put out the blaze, which coupled with the smoke damage totally destroyed the building. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.

At the time of the fire a seminar was in session. All participants and faculty were evacuated and moved to alternate housing, some lost their passports and airline tickets in the blaze. These all were reissued during the week and everyone was able to return home on time. Course Director Dr. Kenneth Stein and his faculty managed to conduct almost all their lectures during the rest of the week.