Night-time Fire in Apartment Building in Zilina Causes Damage of Almost €300,000

Zilina, 23 October (TASR) - A night-time fire in a block of flats on Bratislavska Street in Zilina has caused damage worth almost €300,000, Zilina mayor Peter Fiabane reported following a meeting of the crisis management team on Thursday morning, adding that Zilina City Hall has declared a state of emergency in connection with the fire. A total of 21 people, including six children, spent the night in a primary school in Zilina as a result of the fire. There are seven apartments in the given municipal residential building, six of which were occupied, while the seventh one was under reconstruction. "There was nobody present in one of the six occupied flats, while there were 21 people in the others, including six children. We immediately transferred them to the primary school by bus with the help of firemen and provided them with everything needed so that they could sleep and temporarily stay there," said Fiabane. According to Fiabane, an initial assessment by a structural engineer indicates that the building hasn't been damaged so much that it would have to be demolished. "The damage isn't small, we currently estimate it at €300,000. The space beneath the roof has been completely burned out, the problem is secondary damage caused while extinguishing the fire," said the Zilina mayor. Zilina region police spokesperson Daniela Kockova said that a fire inspector examining the causes of the fire hasn't yet ruled out third-party responsibility. "An investigator of the Zilina criminal police department has launched a criminal investigation regarding the crime of general endangerment and of damaging someone else's property. The exact circumstances, as well as the cause of the fire, are the subject of the ongoing investigation," stated Kockova. ko/df