The court began to hear the case of the Libušín fire at Pustevny

Vsetín - The District Court in Vsetín today began hearing the case of the fire at the monument-protected lodge Libušín in Pustevny in the Beskydy Mountains in 2014. According to the indictment, the misfortune was caused by fifty-four-year-old Pavel Pryszcz from Karviná, who neglected the repair of the chimneys in 2007. For causing general danger through negligence, he faces two to eight years in prison. The defendant refused to testify in court.

State Prosecutor Jiří Sachr stated that Pryszcz was responsible for fixing the emergency condition of the chimneys. According to the indictment, he assigned the work to two employees who were not professionally qualified, and they lined the chimney contrary to valid regulations. "The defendant Pryszcz, as the responsible person, did not identify and eliminate the faults. He issued an inspection report stating that the flueways showed no apparent faults," Sachr said.

When the lodge was heated, the high temperatures of the fumes, according to the indictment, damaged the beams between the chimney and the wooden beam wall in the kitchen, which later led to a major fire in the building. The state prosecutor estimated the damage at least 38 million crowns.

Since Pryszcz refused to testify in court, the chairwoman of the criminal panel, Alena Matochová, read his statement from the preliminary proceedings. In it, the man admitted that he did issue the inspection report, but in the document, he noted that no connection had been made, meaning that no appliances were connected. From photographs after the fire, Pryszcz believes it can be inferred that the fire probably broke out in the gutter area and not in the chimney. From this, he deduces that subsequent inspections and cleaning of the chimneys were not properly conducted.

One of the defendant's employees, who repaired the chimney, admitted that he does not have a certificate for chimney work. He stated that he completed safety training every year. Pryszcz allegedly mainly orally instructed him on what work to do at Libušín with a colleague. "He came for inspections, some days he was there with us. He mainly oversaw and advised. The chimney was in a dilapidated state," the witness said. According to him, there was no beam in the chimney, only masonry.

The tenant of the restaurant that operated in the lodge stated that the chimney was regularly cleaned, most recently in November 2013. He supposedly burned wood in the stoves, and tried coal several times. A fire protection system was installed in the lodge, which, according to the man, issued false alarms several times before the fire. The tenant's wife said that before the devastating fire, the acoustic signaling of the device was turned off. The main hearing will continue on Thursday.

The lodge Libušín, built in 1899 according to the design of architect Dušan Jurkovič, with decoration contributed by painter Mikoláš Aleš, burned down on the night of March 3, 2014. The Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, which manages Libušín, is claiming damages of over 112 million crowns, while the insurance company compensates for more than 38 million crowns. After the fire, the museum decided to rebuild the lodge, which had been a national cultural monument since 1995. The construction of the new Libušín began in the summer of 2017, and it is expected to open to the public next year.