Behind the church fire is human error, it may be related to the homeless

Prague - The fire at the St. Michael's Church in the Kinsky Gardens in Prague was most likely caused by human error. According to the current findings of investigators who were on-site today to determine the cause, Wednesday's fire may be related to the movement of homeless individuals. They have ruled out technical failure, said Martin Kavka, spokesman for Prague firefighters, to ČTK. The damage caused by the fire is not yet known.

According to Kavka, the Prague City Hall and the church will seek an expert who will go to the site to assess the damage. "It will amount to several million," noted Kavka. However, he stated that the damage is difficult to quantify.

The fire on Wednesday afternoon affected the lower part of the wooden church and three towers, with the shingle roof partially collapsing and the structure burning through to the beams. Firefighters extinguished the fire at 6:40 PM and then used a thermal camera to locate hidden hotspots and extinguish them. They cooled the area to allow investigators to enter. They arrived at the fire site this morning, and there were also workers from the Fire Protection Technical Institute.

Kavka told ČTK that there was no electrical installation in the church as there is no electricity supply, but there was a mobile generator. "We are therefore examining the human factor as well as technical failure," he stated in the morning. In the afternoon, he informed that investigators had ruled out technical failure.

The Orthodox Church of St. Michael, sometimes also referred to as the Carpathian Church, originally stood in the village of Velké Loučky near Mukachevo in Ukraine. It was dismantled, transported, and rebuilt in Prague in 1929 from what was then Subcarpathian Rus, which was part of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars. According to the spokesperson for Prague firefighters, fire safety regulations apply to the year the church was built. "Once there is no reconstruction, it remains as it is," he added. For this reason, firefighters suggest revising the protection of monuments according to Kavka.

The monumentally protected structure from the 17th century was moved to the park during the First Czechoslovak Republic to become part of the collections of the Ethnographic Museum. Prague city councilors today decided that Prague will announce a public collection for the restoration of the damaged church. The announcement must still be confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior, after which the city will publish the bank account number to which contributions can be made.

Fires in the Czech Republic have damaged several monuments in recent years. Three years ago, a 16th-century wooden church in Gutech in the Frýdek-Místek region burned down, causing around 20 million crowns in damage. In April 2002, flames destroyed the wooden St. Catherine's Church in Ostrava-Hrabová, which was also built in the 16th century. In March 2014, the wooden Libušín lodge in Pustevny in the Beskids, designed by Dušan Jurkovič at the end of the 19th century, also burned down.