The first count was eight people out of the building and two possibly still inside, on the top floor. It did not hold. By about nine on Sunday evening, 13 April 2025, Poland’s interior ministry spokesman Jacek Dobrzyński was posting a different number: five people had died in a hostel fire in Pszów, a town in the Silesian region.
The blaze started around 6.30 p.m. in a three-storey building. Firefighters from the county command in Wodzisław Śląski reached it quickly, and Captain Sebastian Bauer told reporters right after the first evacuation that two residents might be trapped on the last level. A search went on while crews fought flames that had spread across all three floors. In the end 120 firefighters and 34 fire engines took part, according to Dobrzyński. Radio ZET, citing Polsat News, put the early deployment at 20 fire brigade units.
Who got out
The fire service chief, Wojciech Kruczek, said late that night that 12 people had been brought out alive: two Ukrainians and ten Poles. Silesian governor Marek Wójcik added that one of them was in hospital, and that the rest had been offered somewhere to sleep.
Two police officers were hurt as well. They were the first on the scene and began pulling residents out. One officer was taken to hospital with symptoms of poisoning; the other was treated where he stood. Wójcik said a local beat officer carried one resident out and inhaled carbon monoxide doing it, but was in good condition.
A building not registered as a hotel
The question that came up before the fire was even out was what the place actually was. Wójcik said the building “was not registered as a hotel.” What the owner had really been running there, he added, would be settled in the ongoing investigation.
Interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak wrote on X that he was getting regular reports from the governor and from Kruczek, and said the ministry would keep the public informed in the coming hours. Kruczek was on his way to Pszów.
Sources
- Tragiczny pożar hostelu w miejscowości Pszów. Nie żyje pięć osób (Onet / Polska Agencja Prasowa)
- Pszów. Tragiczny bilans pożaru na Śląsku. Pięć osób nie żyje, funkcjonariusze ranni (Radio ZET / Polsat News)
