The Kochani Fire Department chief Dragan Apostolov told Thursday’s trial hearing over the Kochani nightclub fire that he was at home on the night of the fatal event when he received a phone call at 02.47 about a fire in the club, after which he informed and called all the shift commanders, and also requested assistance from the Vinica, Shtip, Sveti Nikole and Probishtip fire departments to help extinguish the fire.
All the equipment and employees of the Kochani Fire Department were engaged and went out to the field – nine vehicles, five of which were off-road and tilting vehicles, as well as three jeeps with a smaller water capacity, and one Lada Niva command vehicle.
“Upon arriving at 2:55 am, I immediately headed into the building. Smoke was only coming out of the front door. The fire was raging inside, the ceiling, the bar and the stage were all on fire. There were many children asking for help. With equipment and oxygen tanks, I entered the building, where my colleagues were already there with whom they started pulling people out. Some of the colleagues were pulling people out at the same time, and some of us were controlling the fire with water. I went inside with the water jet and made a fan of water to reduce the temperature, so that the fire wouldn’t burn us all to ashes, while the rest were pulling people out,” Apostolov elaborated.
Most of the injured and deceased people were in the hallway at the front door, which, as he pointed out, was no larger than three or four meters. To the right of the hallway was the ticket office, and to the left was the toilet.
“There were some alive among the injured, who we took outside to the red carpet, after which others took them over, who probably transported them to the hospital. I don’t know about the outside, I was inside the whole time,” said Apostolov.
Inside, the nightclub was filled with smoke and very hot, emphasizing that even with protective equipment, although he never had contact with the fire, he got burns and blisters on his hands and head.
“The fire was very difficult to put out. There was a hydrant box in front of the toilet, there was a hose inside, but there was no valve and we could not use it. There were also used nine-kilogram PP devices scattered around,” said the witness.
The intervention ended around 04 am – 04:30 am when the fire was finally put out.
