The owners of a retail hall in Warsaw devastated on Sunday morning by a massive fire has said it will rebuild the hall.
Marywilska 44, which lies to the north-east of the capital, was the largest retail center in the city specializing in wholesale and retail trade. Most of the owners of the 1,400 businesses operating in the hall came from Warsaw’s Vietnamese and Chinese community, and the food area was dominated by East Asian cuisine.
Some 50 fire engines attended the blaze but they were unable to prevent around 80 percent of the hall’s complete destruction. Its owners, Mirbud, on Monday said that it would rebuild Marywilska 44, and that it was insured.
Just how the fire started and how it managed to destroy around 80% of the huge hall in just a few minutes has yet to be determined?
Some 50 fire engines attended the blaze but they were unable to prevent around 80 percent of the hall’s complete destruction. Its owners, Mirbud, on Monday said that it would rebuild Marywilska 44, and that it was insured.
Just how the fire started and how it managed to destroy around 80% of the huge hall in just a few minutes has yet to be determined?
Speaking about the fire, Mariusz Feltynowski, a senior officer in the Fire Brigade, said that it is a “very strange situation”.
Some business owners at the retail center have speculated that it may be arson but police are currently investigating the circumstances and have not released details on the cause.
“We arrived here at 3:30 a.m. Normally, security opened the gates. My father went to the hall, it was maybe 3.35 a.m. There was no fire brigade or anything, and everything was already on fire,” one business owner told Polish daily Fakt.
“So how is this possible? Where are all the fire protection systems? How did the security guard react? If the security guards drive through the entire hall and open the gates, can't they see that there's a fire?” the business owner added.
‘I lost everything’
“I lost everything I had. We don’t have even a penny left. We kept everything we had in the shopping center,” Lili, who has been running her business at Marywilska 44 for years, told Polish daily Super Express.
Suspicious circumstances
The fire has hit Warsaw’s Vietnamese community. “Small businesses, family businesses, dominated there. Sometimes these were entire families and their employees. Never before have we, as a community, faced such a scale of a problem,” said Karol Hoang, press spokesman for the Association of Vietnamese in Poland.
Some business owners at the retail center have speculated that it may be arson but police are currently investigating the circumstances and have not released details on the cause.
“We arrived here at 3:30 a.m. Normally, security opened the gates. My father went to the hall, it was maybe 3.35 a.m. There was no fire brigade or anything, and everything was already on fire,” one business owner told Polish daily Fakt.
“So how is this possible? Where are all the fire protection systems? How did the security guard react? If the security guards drive through the entire hall and open the gates, can't they see that there's a fire?” the business owner added.
‘I lost everything’
“I lost everything I had. We don’t have even a penny left. We kept everything we had in the shopping center,” Lili, who has been running her business at Marywilska 44 for years, told Polish daily Super Express.
Suspicious circumstances
The fire has hit Warsaw’s Vietnamese community. “Small businesses, family businesses, dominated there. Sometimes these were entire families and their employees. Never before have we, as a community, faced such a scale of a problem,” said Karol Hoang, press spokesman for the Association of Vietnamese in Poland.
Source: Super Express, Fakt, Onet, TVN 24, RMF 24, WP
More In Society MORE...
