STA, 25 February 2021 - A fire completely destroyed the popular Mozirska Koča mountain lodge near the Golte ski centre in the Savinja-Kamnik Alps on Wednesday evening. Celje police are now investigating the site to establish the cause of the fire, the Celje Police Department said on Thursday.
A steep slope and ice on the road made the fire-fighting effort for almost 90 firefighters hard but they managed to put the fire out in two hours after they were alerted about it at around 7:30pm. A group of firefighters and two police officers stayed there overnight to watch the fire site.
Public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported late last evening that the fire had been caused by an explosion.
The lodge, part of which was made of bricks but most of it of wood, was closed due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Golte Facebook
It is situated not far from the Golte ski centre and was completely renovated 2011 to offer 57 beds and tables for 70 guests.
It is located on Boskovec, a 1,587-metre mountain, the highest in the Golte range, which is part of the Savinja-Kamnik Alps in the north of the country.
It is now owned by the local Mozirje Mountaineering Association, whose head Boštjan Goličnik said in a release the damage to them was enormous despite the lodge being insured.
The lodge was very popular among mountain climbers in the summer, and last year the association signed a contract with a new bar tenant, who last visited it on Tuesday, when everything seemed to be OK, the Slovenian Mountaineering Association said in a release.
Goličnik said it was too early to say anything about renovation, but since lodges at this locations burnt down twice in the past "I know that a new lodge will stand here somewhere for the third time".
The first lodge there was built by the local mountaineering association back in 1896.
This is the third mountain lodge in the area covered by the Celje Police Department to completely burn down in the last three years.
