Prague on fire: the worst fires, hero stories and suicide rescue thanks to the Kobra 11 series | Home
The series was created in cooperation with the Fire and Rescue Service of the Capital City of Prague, which this year commemorates 165 years since its founding. Viewers will see one of six video documents every Tuesday from October 16 to November 20. The first part will be published exactly on the 10th anniversary of the Industrial Palace fire, when firefighters, thanks to the massive commitment of people and technology, managed to save the middle and right part of the historical monument of Bedřich Münzberger from 1891.
The next weeks of the series will reveal the most tragic fire in the history of the Czech Republic, when nine people burned in Florence. Thanks to quick decisions, firefighters managed to save two young people from the fiery hell. Without firefighters, they had tens of seconds to live in a window behind bars.
Take a look at the promo part about Florence, in which Aleš Šenkýř describes how he set out to explore after the video.
Viewers can also see unique videos and photographs from the Prague Fire and Rescue Service archive in the series. The series is guided by Martin Kavka, a former field firefighter, now chief fire investigator and spokesman. Both “maniacs” – ordinary firefighters and top commanders – will speak in the series.
And what will the other parts be about? Prague on fire – the stories of the heroes will be reminded of the second most tragic fire in the Czech Republic. Eight people died and 34 were injured in the 1995 Olympik fire. However, firefighters rescued another 100 people from the eight floors of the burning hotel, who had penetrated the poisonous smoke.
Take a look at the promo video of the Olympik Hotel, in which Pavel Valeš describes what he met after climbing the most affected 11th floor.
Exactly on the tenth anniversary – on Tuesday, November 6 – a part about the giant fire of the Sapa market will be published, during which, for the first time in history, a helicopter was used to extinguish the building in the city. The intervention in Sapa at that time lasted an incredible 181 hours, there were 81 units in action, a total of 954 firefighters from six regions.
Viewers will also hear the testimony of firefighters who rescued about 40 people from a burning hotel in Náplavní Street in January this year. The fire still claimed five lives.
The part about firefighters will be unique, the story of which is known to all members of the Prague Fire and Rescue Service. Under Jiří Čmakal, the roof collapsed in 1999 during the fire-fighting of the Sapa market. Three more firefighters jumped and managed to capture the edges. But the crap, as her friends nicknamed, was too far away. He ran, but fell into flames, a terrible heat – a place where the temperature reached nine degrees. He thought, “Now what? You’re a jerk! ”
Cmakal’s ruined and spoiled emergency suit that saved his life.
Čmakal spent 90 seconds in a terrible heat, then three of his friends, regardless of their own health, went face to face with the flames, and finally managed to pull out of the burning hall. However, Čmakal had burns III on half of his body. degree, his own sweat scalded him. He spent six days in the burn ward in critical condition and unconsciousness, connected to a fan. He underwent dozens of operations, yet returned to the fire department a year later. Today he is a respected commander, a legend among Prague firefighters …
Jiří Čmakal
The six-part series on the Lidovky.cz server is filled with another six articles every Friday from October 19 with a number of video interviews, photo galleries and other videos. Readers will learn about the work of fire investigators – who is a frequent arsonist is a reliable recipe for setting your own apartment on fire. The next part will focus on the work of “invisible professionals” – people from the operations center. Including knowledge of the story of a woman who saved a suicide’s life thanks to the Cobra 11 series.
The series will also focus on the legendary Jan Havrd and his “clan” of firefighters. Havrda or “old Johnny” spent an incredible 44 years on the trip and intervened in the biggest fires, the plane crash in Ruzyně, which killed 66 people, and the catastrophic floods of 2002. Readers will also have the opportunity to look into the “fire MASH” – station no. 3 in Holešovice, built by the Nazis as a temporary for ten years and which should soon be a thing of the past.
Jan Havrda extinguishes the burning roof.
Other parts will focus on what attracts firefighters to their work, why they do it and how they live or show the stories of firefighters who risked the most valuable thing they have in rescue or firefighting – their own lives.
You can find the entire 12-part series at www.lidovky.cz/hasici.
The creators would like to thank the management, current and past members of the Prague Fire and Rescue Service for their helpfulness and cooperation. Firefighters and others (in alphabetical order): Pavel Boček, Martin Bouška, Petr Červenka, Ondřej Černý, Jiří Čmakal, Jan Havrda, Jan Havrda Jr., Jarka Havrdová, Martin Haušild, Roman Hlinovský, Jiří Hošek, Pavel Hošek, Tomáš Horský, Lukáš Kavala, Martin Kavka, Antonín Kasík, Radek Kislinger, Jiří Klindera, Lukáš Král, Magda Kramářová, Václav Kratochvíl, Jiří Krygel, Josef Křen, Milan Mach, Felix Malec, Milan Pacík, Vladimír Polanecký, Jiří Rýpar, Radek Svatoš, Aleš Šenkýř, Iveta Škramlíková, Antonín Šustr, Pavel Valeš, Miloš Vorel.
We apologize in advance to everyone else we forgot.