The fire in Vjesnik's business skyscraper in the wider center of Zagreb is still not extinguished, and firefighters left the building last night on the orders of the structural engineer.
"The situation in the building is very bad and difficult. A lot of things burned down, and at one point the firefighters were even cut off," Chief Fire Chief Slavko Tucaković told Croatian Radio and Television last night.
He indicated that smaller fires will certainly break out during the night and that six firefighters with two fire trucks will be on duty in front of the building.
"This is one of the most challenging urban fires to date. It took a lot of knowledge, equipment and training to be able to extinguish it," Tucaković emphasized.
He urged citizens to be careful and not to approach the building located at the intersection of Slavonska Avenue and Savska Street, saying that great caution is needed even though the police have restricted and secured the area.
A fire broke out in one of the largest and most famous office buildings in Zagreb on Monday around 23 p.m. and firefighters have been battling the blaze ever since. There was no one in the building at the time of the fire.
Special traffic regulations are currently in effect in the streets around the building, which will be in effect until a new safety assessment by the authorities, the city administration announced.
Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said earlier today that the most important thing is that there are no human casualties and no danger to citizens.
"According to what I saw on site and inside the building, the damage is, unfortunately, total, but I believe that the state and other owners will start the renovation of the building in this prominent location of our city as soon as possible," said Tomašević.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković confirmed that the damage was extensive and added that it was not yet known how the fire started. He said that the state, as a co-owner of the skyscraper with more than 60 percent, would take measures to restore the building.
Croatian media speculate that the building will likely be demolished, because the structural integrity has been compromised, and that a new one will be built.
The skyscraper, which was once a symbol of journalism and Zagreb, is 67 meters tall and has 16 floors, and was built over nine years, from 1963 to 1972.
For the last twenty years or so, this office building, once the headquarters of the daily newspaper Vjesnik, has been mostly empty, with only occasional office use.
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