The fire was reported around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, and the fire department declared a level three fire alarm out of four. They extinguished the fire in about three and a half hours.
The multi-purpose hall measuring about 70 by 40 meters was completely unscathed and one-third of the building, which housed about 80 bulls, was saved. A structural engineer was called in and confirmed that the hall was in poor condition and was in danger of collapsing.
“The fire alarm level was reduced from three to one second after 9:00 p.m. At the same time, special equipment from the emergency department of the HZS of the Czech Republic arrived at the scene of the incident. A crawler excavator was sent from the Zihlava site, with the help of which firefighters removed parts of the roof of the hall, so that directly managed to get to the explosions,” said Martina Kotsova, spokeswoman for the regional fire department.
Both bulls ran away
On Tuesday, more than a dozen fire brigades responded to the scene, with their numbers gradually dwindling.
“During the morning, deployed units were further reduced and the fire alarm level was lowered first. Fire protection units remained on site throughout the night and the intervention will continue throughout the day,” Kotsova said.
According to him, the remaining straw will be burned in a controlled manner after an agreement with the owner. No one was allowed to enter the affected area of the hall after the structural engineer said the hall was in danger of collapsing.
“Firefighters are protecting the unaffected third of the hall along with the animal stables to prevent the fire from spreading,” the spokesperson added.
Two people were slightly injured in the attack, one of them a volunteer firefighter. Firefighters took the cattle out of the barn, and none of the animals died. The intervention took place under the supervision of veterinarians and representatives of the livestock administration, and at the beginning of the event, two bulls escaped from the fire and moved around the village, which were later captured. Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings.
HZS investigators are investigating the cause of the fire. Damages were tentatively set at five million crowns. Conserved values, especially culled livestock, remain at the same level.
