“Quickly, bring us a fire engine. The whole hostel is burning. The smoke is everywhere,” cried a victim of the fire in Kamien Pomorski, north-western Poland, which broke out on 13 April. A special report by an investigative commission has been released, revealing what exactly happened on the fatal day, when 21 people died and 20 others were injured.

Emergency services received the first phone call about the fire 32 minutes past midnight. Three minutes later a dispatcher sent two fire brigades, an ambulance and a police car to the site. The fire brigade commander, seeing that the situation is grave, called for reinforcement troops from the whole region.

‘The building is on fire. There are flames coming out of the windows, especially on the eastern side of the hostel. People are calling for help.’

The fire brigade commander decides to first rescue the conscious people who are waiting by the windows in seven different places in the building.

Rescue operation starts

All available firemen take part in the Easter rescue operation. Four of them are unfolding a heavy D10W fire ladder on the eastern side of the building. While doing that, they spot an unconscious man lying on the ground. They make sure he is alive and continue the operation. It later turned out that the man jumped from the third floor.

A fireman on the northern side of the building evacuates a man from the second floor and catches a child thrown out from the window by his mother. Later, the woman jumps from the same window and lands on a patch of sand. The fireman pours water on the top of the building.

The firemen on the eastern side climb a ladder and evacuate five members of a family who lived on the second floor and two men from the third floor. Later, they rescue an older woman and a child thrown out through the window.

Firemen enter the building

At that point the commander gives an order to enter the burning shelter. Firemen with fire hoses get into the building from the western side. One of the firemen, who is on his way to join the group inside the hostel, spots a woman on the second floor who is afraid of jumping. He encourages her to jump so that people standing behind her could also escape the fire.

The firemen who worked on the eastern side move to the west after they established that there was no one else there to rescue. Three firemen and a witness unfold the ladder and evacuate a woman from the second floor. While doing that, a man runs up to them and asks to save his family, who are trapped on the eastern side. The firemen move the ladder again and one of them checks the flat indicated by the man. He cannot find anyone inside so he draws back.

Another man begs a fireman to rescue his sister form the third floor. The entrance to the flat is blocked but the fireman enters the apartment on his knees. The flames and smoke are too dense though and he is forced to draw back.

Rescue operation ends

The firemen enter the central part of the building. The fire spread in the whole staircase and corridors. They do not find anyone alive so they back out. While they are trying to get out of the building, the ceiling of the second floor drops and hits one of the firemen and hurts his chest. Suddenly the firemen see a man who is trying to enter the burning hostel. They prevent him from doing that.

There are no voices calling for help any more. The whole building is on fire. There is no possibility to conduct rescue operation inside the hostel. It is 00:43. The described events lasted 8 minutes.

(mg/mmj)