Police investigate Zlín fire as criminal offence of public endangerment through negligence
Detectives are investigating a major fire in a high-rise building in the former Baťa complex in Zlín as a criminal offence of public endangerment through negligence. The person responsible faces a prison sentence of up to five years.
Police investigate Zlín fire as criminal offence of public endangerment through negligence
Detectives are investigating a major fire in a high-rise building in the former Baťa complex in Zlín as a criminal offence of public endangerment through negligence. The person responsible faces a prison sentence of up to five years. Criminal proceedings have been initiated in the case. The information was reported by the Echo24 news server.
The eleven-storey building numbered 34, owned by the company Cream, caught fire on Thursday morning. Approximately half of the structure collapsed in two places. According to findings so far, the fire first appeared on the ninth floor, where a warehouse of the footwear company Vasky was located. From there it spread to other floors and the roof. Emergency units have had the situation under control since the night of Thursday to Friday, with flames no longer spreading. Nevertheless, firefighting work continues. The commander of the operation, Zdeněk Otrusina, told Czech Television that firefighters would like to hand over the site to the owner on Monday.
At the time the fire broke out, approximately two hundred employees of Cream and other tenants were inside. All people were transported to safety in time. Marcel Schmidt, a representative of Cream Group, told Novinky.cz that as the owner they comply with all legal procedures and standards, and the building underwent regular fire safety inspections. At the same time, he admitted that he could not explain why the fire from the ninth floor spread so quickly throughout the entire building.
The damages run into hundreds of millions of crowns. Václav Staněk, owner and founder of the Vasky brand, stated that approximately 75,000 pairs of shoes, clothing and accessories worth 150 to 180 million crowns were destroyed in the warehouse. The company Alpine Pro, a supplier of sports clothing for the Czech Olympic team, had goods stored in the building worth over half a billion crowns. The Packeta group, operator of the Zásilkovna service, had approximately 9,000 parcels left in the building.
Police closed off the area around the building, with access prohibited until at least Monday. Police officers will be guarding the area and any breach of the prohibition will be penalised. The length of the closure depends on the complete extinguishing of the fire. Fifteen units of professional and volunteer firefighters are still operating at the site, and a police helicopter has been deployed to drop water on the affected building. Due to the danger of further collapse, rescuers cannot approach closer than seventy metres. If the remainder of the building does not collapse on its own, it will need to be demolished. The total amount of damages has not yet been calculated.
Source: Novinky.cz