Mozirska Hut on Golte Destroyed by Fire

The cause of the fire that destroyed the popular mountain Mozirska Hut on Golte (1356 m) is still unknown. Criminal investigators will continue inspecting the site in the coming days. The destroyed mountain hut represents a great loss for the owner, Mountaineering Association Mozirje, as well as the entire mountaineering organization.

The Administration of the RS for Protection and Rescue received a call at 19:27 from a person from Mozirje saying that a fire was visible on Golte.
»Mozirje firefighters activated immediately and called five neighboring associations and drove to the scene. A total of 88 firefighters with 16 vehicles participated. Due to the icy road and steep slope around the building, extinguishing was difficult. When we arrived at the area, it was visible that the fire had already strongly engulfed the hut. So saving the hut itself was impossible, we mainly wanted to contain the fire. We extinguished the fire for two hours. We will stay here as long as there is smoke on the site,« said intervention leader Stane Weiss.

Among the first firefighters was also the president of PD Mozirje Boštjan Goličnik, who was visibly shaken by the event. »I still can't believe this happened to our association. This hut was very important for our association. Last year we signed a contract with a new tenant and these days we were talking to her about extension, as we were mutually satisfied. The hut was very well visited in the summer and hikers praised the staff and offer. It's too early to talk about the course of renovation, plans for the future and material damage. The loss for us is enormous, even though the hut was insured. I'm receiving numerous calls from locals who support and encourage us. The hut has burned down twice in the past, now the third time and I know that a new hut will stand here again,« said the optimistic president anyway.

Mozirska Hut on Golte, one of the oldest huts in Slovenia, stands on the southern slope of Boskovec. The first Mozirska Hut was built by the Savinja branch of SPD and opened on October 5, 1896. The hut burned down for the first time during World War II and the second time in a forest fire in July 1950. After the last renovations, there were 70 seats in two dining rooms and 57 beds in the rooms. Due to measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the hut was closed, its tenant Alenka Vetrih visited and maintained it regularly. She was there last on Tuesday and according to her everything looked normal.

Mozirje mountaineers have thoroughly renovated the hut in recent years. They renovated the interior, carried out energy renovation, two years ago they also arranged the wooden facade.

»The burned Mozirska Hut on Golte is a great loss for Mountaineering Association Mozirje and the entire Slovenian mountaineering. The hut is especially popular among visitors in the wider region who regularly visit it and for many it represents a »second home«. We inspected the site today together with the association representatives who have been on site since yesterday and agreed on the first steps. In the coming days, the PZS board and the association will meet and agree on further steps,« said General Secretary Damjan Omerzu.

At the same time, Omerzu emphasized that in PZS we are strongly aware of fire safety problems and therefore last year with Triglav Insurance we dedicated the 11th season of the all-Slovenian Očistimo naše gore campaign to this area. For this purpose, we distributed 152 fire ampoules among 52 mountain huts in Slovenia that applied for the call.

We ask all interested media public and hikers not to move in the vicinity of the hut in the coming days due to the fire investigation and the secured area.