“We knew what happened. The pavers were digging in front of the house, who were apparently unqualified. It’s surprising to me that they didn’t have any plans for the pipes when they were paving the path and dug over the gas right in front of the entrance, and to top it all off with an excavator. It sparked and the gas blew,” speculated Emil Wagner, co-owner of the affected house at Dobrovského 18, for Fairpress.
Novinek’s camera filmed what the fire caused in a multi-story apartment building. Three apartments above the entrance to the house are the most damaged. The fire reached the attic apartment.
The footage shows a hole in the roof of the apartment, a burnt-out living room, destroyed furniture, burnt stairs or even a completely destroyed microwave oven. Apparently, it “melted” due to the enormous heat inside the house, it can be seen, among other things, on the twisted light switches on the wall.
The mayor of the seventh city district, Jan Čižinský (Prague sebo), told Novinka at the same time that, unfortunately, the burning gas could not be turned off for three and a half hours due to the inadequate condition of the gas caps. According to the findings of Novinek, as part of the intervention, as a member of the crisis team, he heard that one valve was not working, the second was encased in concrete and the third was leaking.
“As the mayor, I am of course interested in making sure that a similar situation does not occur again. Now these things will be resolved. We want all valves and other potential risk points in our district to be resolved,” described Mayor Čižinský.
Before the accident, the line was in adequate technical condition and depth, according to the Prague gas workers of the Prague Gas Distribution Company (PPD).
“Every year we invest almost 1.3 billion crowns in the repair and renewal of the distribution network in Prague precisely with regard to its safe operation, stability of gas supplies and in accordance with safety standards and related technical standards,” PPD spokesman Jan Srb responded to the mayor’s words for Fairpress.
“A similar incident has never happened in Prague”
The editorial office of Novinek also turned to the Prague municipality, under whose responsibility the PPD falls, with the question of how the gas pipeline energy network is cared for in the territory of the metropolis.
“We control the work of municipal companies with the help of supervisory boards, and there is also a subsequent control directly by the state. Reporting of possible malfunctions is also dealt with, defects are dealt with, and the condition of the gas pipelines is also dealt with. Prague has thousands of kilometers of gas pipelines and a similar incident has never happened here,” Jan Chabr (TOP 09), municipal chairman of the municipal committee for energy, explained to Novinkám, adding that PPD has one of the lowest failure rates of all gas distributors in the territory of the Czech Republic of the Republic.
“Currently, it is necessary to wait for the result of the investigation. But what we already know is that the damage was caused by the intervention of a third party. There should be an investigation report on Monday,” added Chabr.
Therefore, investigators are now actively interested in the incident in Dobrovského Street. The case is being investigated for suspicion of committing a crime of public endangerment due to negligence.
“The day after the fire, criminal investigators returned to the scene together with fire investigators. At the moment, we are evaluating the information obtained and will wait for the results of expert examinations,” police spokesman Jan Rybanský informed Fairpress.
“We appeal once again to all builders and contractors who carry out work in the protective zones of gas pipelines that before starting any work, it is necessary to obtain from us a statement about the existence of networks, route marking and location of gas pipelines and to ask us for a favorable opinion on the implementation of any work that needs to be carried out in such a way as not to damage the gas pipeline,” added Jan Srb.
And he added that who and how damaged the PPD gas pipeline during construction work and why it subsequently caught fire is the subject of an investigation by the Police of the Czech Republic and HZS Prague, under whose command the intervention was conducted.
“It looks crazy in here”
Andrea Hojerová and her family own two apartments in the building, both of which have now been destroyed by fire. “I had no idea that it would go this far,” she told Novinkám.
“It looks crazy in here, a whole piece of the roof is missing. In addition to eyes for crying, we have some clothes left, we don’t know if any appliances will work,” she said in the attic apartment, the roof of which has partially collapsed and the bags are now broken and scattered in her living room.
The second of the apartments, where her daughter lived with her partner, turned out even worse. “We completely remodeled it for my daughter, she moved into it in December, everything was brand new. It’s such a waste of work,” she sighed.
Here, a black room remained from the kitchen with a charred window without panes of glass, the line partially “melted” and only parts of the appliances remained. Perhaps only the bedroom in the back of the apartment was spared a little.
Another of the apartments is used by general practitioner Emil Wagner as his office and storage. The rooms are full of things, now partly charred or blackened. “My furniture, books, documents, laundry… some survived, some didn’t,” he assessed.
However, he is glad that he will slowly be able to return to his office on the ground floor, which survived the fire unscathed. His patients need him.
“I already come here, now it’s accessible, the water and electricity are working, we just don’t have a phone, some optical cables were burnt in the sidewalk that is being repaired. Now it’s a question of mediating the gas connection to those rooms that weren’t affected,” he described. One of them is his apartment, where he lives and where he will be able to return.
Photo: News
