The dramatic events took place at night from Saturday to Sunday in a building at Kraszewskiego Street in Poznań. The fire and explosion, which occurred just before midnight, caused 11 firefighters to be injured and 2 are inactive wanted. 3 people were besides injured, including the building's flat and 2 people injured most likely due to shrapnel.
Rapid Fire Department Response
According to Deputy Chief of the PSP, the superbrig. Józef Galica at a press conference, the first PSP troops arrived after a fewer minutes of notification. “In the course of the reconnaissance, there was an unexpected detonation for anyone here, most likely 2 explosions, as we heard from the lifeguard account 2 explosions. And most likely, there was a misfortune. We have 11 injured firefighters, we are inactive looking for 2 more firefighters, we do not know their destiny fully," he said.
Rescue and evacuation
Galica added that 3 people were besides injured in addition to firefighters. "The building is now extinguishing. We want to make an accurate (assessment) of the stableness of this building. We'll see if he's unchangeable due to the fact that we can see from the outside that the ceilings are down. The search and rescue squad is about to arrive and we will effort to penetrate the full underground at any cost. We presume that our colleagues are there," Galica said.
He besides pointed out the request to carefully measure the condition of the building before further action. "The likely place where they may be is known to us. but that we must first measure the condition of this building to scope them safely," he added.
Possible causes of explosion
On the question of the origin of the explosion, Galica replied that he was incapable to say this at this minute and that a thorough examination would be necessary. "Most likely this detonation occurred – from the accounts of witnesses who were here – somewhere in the basement," he said.
Firefighting run
Deputy to the Wielkopolska Provincial Commandant PSP st. brig. Sławomir Brandt, who appeared on the site moments after receiving information about the event, pointed out that the situation was very hard from the beginning. "At the time of arrival practically the full building was on fire, all floors and roof. Firefighters were treated outside the building, we knew we were looking for any of them. There were besides medical rescue teams on site, which any firefighters transported immediately to hospitals," he reported.
"Then we began reorganizing our firefighting activities, due to the fact that we first acted inside, in the basement. After that explosion, however, the fire rapidly penetrated all floors. It was essential (...) to divide the area of the action – we had a full of 7 conflict episodes, i.e. 7 tasks in which we had commanders appointed for individual actions", Brandt continued.
An additional obstacle was the tram line moving nearby, which importantly impeded firemen's actions. "We were incapable to deploy our lifts and ladders to carry out effective actions in the defence of neighboring buildings," he added.
Support for victims
The Wielkopolska Voivodeship Agata Sobczyk informed during the press briefing that the provincial office would pay to each of the victims up to PLN 6 1000 as the first, ad hoc support. "Later, together with the city authorities, we will make a larger model of support according to needs," she added.
When asked about the whereabouts of the evacuated residents, Sobczyk replied that any of them reside in families and any in places secured by the city. She besides assured that intellectual assistance was available on site.
Building condition after explosion
The typical of the Regional Building Inspectorate in Poznań, who besides participated in the conference, reported that the building was unstable after preliminary inspection and its construction was mostly destroyed. He added that neighboring buildings were besides damaged as a consequence of the incident.
100 firefighters and about 30 troops are active in extinguishing the fire. Work is underway to find 2 missing firefighters and stabilise the situation in the building.
Continued here:
Fire and detonation in a building in Poznań: 11 injured firefighters, 2 missing
