The incident occurred on Monday, March 8. Komenda Powiatowa Państwowej Straży Pożarnej:
[…] at approximately 11:21 a.m., a report was received by the Command Post of the County Commander of the State Fire Service in Bolesławiec concerning a fire in an apartment on the second floor of a multi-family building on Wańkowicza Street. The duty officer immediately dispatched three units from the State Fire Service Rescue and Firefighting Unit in Bolesławiec, as well as units from Volunteer Fire Service stations.When the first units arrived at the scene, residents reported that a gas stove and kitchen hood were on fire in the apartment, and that all of the apartment’s occupants had left on their own before the firefighters arrived.
Firefighters, equipped among other things with respiratory protective equipment, entered the building with a dry-powder extinguisher and put out the fire involving the stove, kitchen cabinets, parquet flooring and wood paneling. The officers said: “During the operation, the apartment’s occupant reported that he had suffered burns. The injured man was given qualified first aid and, after the medical rescue team arrived, was handed over to the paramedics.
The firefighters added:
As the incident described above shows, it is possible to put out an apartment fire using an extinguisher, but firefighting must begin during the first phase of the fire, when combustion is not yet very intense. A necessary condition is also equipping the apartment with a fire extinguisher, despite the lack of a legal requirement to possess one.
And they emphasized:
It is also important to familiarize yourself in advance with the operating instructions for portable firefighting equipment so that it can be used skillfully while observing the principle that your own safety is paramount. Undertaking firefighting action on one’s own does not exempt a person who notices a hazard from the obligation to notify the emergency services and other people at risk of the fire.