A new hearing was held in the Kochani fire trial on Thursday. A Protection and Rescue Directorate inspector part of the institution’s Vinica unit said after the insight with colleagues from Probishtip, Strumica, and Berovo, they’d determined that there hadn’t been enough fire extinguishers, while the hydrant hadn’t been functioning either.
However, the most painful thing, he noted, was that the back door was locked from the inside, there was no doorknob, while in the base, it was locked with a padlock. The firefighters were breaking it, but the door was very tight, sealed off with Styrofoam, the witness testified.
“Had it been unlocked, it could have served as an exit, even though the door was not in line with standards”, the witness explained.
According to him, there was no emergency lighting even though that was required and there were bars from one of the restrooms, which were being broken. The witness also testified that outside the Pulse nightclub, there had been no conditions for evacuation of multiple people.
Attorney Zvonko Davidovikj, who represents former Directorate head Adnan Djaferoski, said the witness didn’t know in full the law regarding the competences of Directorate heads with regards to action in such situations.