A record number of fires in the past five years was recorded in the Czech Republic on Christmas Eve.
On December 24, firefighters registered 68 fires, according to Radio Prague International, citing the spokesperson for the fire service, Lucie Pipish. According to Pipish, the largest fire was in the former barracks in Bruntál, which caused damages amounting to 50 million Czech crowns (about 2 million USD). Overall, Czech firefighters made 320 callouts on Christmas Eve, including responses to traffic accidents and technical interventions.
In recent years, the number of callouts on Christmas Eve has generally been under one hundred, except for last year, when 1,989 calls were recorded — a record number in the history of observations, caused by strong winds.
