The Pulse nightclub fire was caused by pyrotechnics. The fire spread very quickly because the entire ceiling was made of foam, said in his testimony Petar Markovski, who testified at Mnday’s hearing about Kochani nightclub fire in which 63 people lost their lives and more than 200 were injured. He managed to flee the scene, but he still has health consequences to this day, because his respiratory organs were damaged in the event.
Regarding the pyrotechnics, the witness said that they had been used before, at least a dozen times when he was a guest at the Pulse club. Asked to describe these pyrotechnics, he said that they were in the form of sprinklers, and that everything seemed normal at first during that critical evening.
“Everything was normal, until I suggested we go have a drink at the bar, when the sprinklers turned on. I think it was around 2:30 a.m. The ceiling caught on fire. At that moment, panic set in and people started moving towards the exit. The fire was spreading very quickly because the entire ceiling was covered in foam,” he said.
He testified that he did not remember whether there were fire extinguishers in the building, but on the critical evening he saw the owner Dejan Jovanov-Deko trying to put out the fire on the stage.
Regarding the injuries, he said that he was receiving treatment in Slovenia. His discharge sheet stated that his airways had suffered severe burns.
Dejan Manasiev, who had worked as a bartender at Pulse club since 2012, testified after him. He said that he had not signed an employment contract, and since 2023 he had been insured on a half-time basis. Manasiev, quizzed by the prosecutor, said that he did not see who brought in and who activated the pyrotechnics. He said that at previous events in which pyrotechnics were used, a man from Skopje with grey hair would come and set them up. On the critical evening, that man was not present at the Pulse nightclub.
Regarding security measures, Manasiev said that he did see fire extinguishers – one in the hallway, another in the ticket office, and, as he said, there was probably another one in another spot. He could not remember whether there were fire hydrants in and in front of the building, and he said that there was an evacuation plan that was placed in the small hallway between the large entrance door and the saloon doors through which one entered the nightclub.
(Original reporting)
