Poland on fire

The recent were disturbingly abundant in terrifying events. Just a coincidence?

The series of spectacular fires in Poland commenced on Friday, 10 May, when a landfill in Siemianowice Śląskie came into flames. Burning illegal rubbish yards were the order of the day in warmer halves of recent years, so there should be nothing worrying, except for the fact the Polish government still cannot get to grips with criminal dump collection.

On Sunday, 12 May I woke up to see a text message warning of potentially hazardous fire from a shopping mall burning on the other end of Warsaw, some 25 kilometres away from me. I thought the scale of the blaze must have been scary, if the warnings reached inhibitants of quite distant areas. With hindsight, the air contamination turned out less harmful than anticipated, yet the largest roof-covered bazaar in Warsaw came into non-existence. Luckily, there were no fatalitities, but none of the anti-fire precautions has worked and the firemen claim it looked like the fire had been set in eight different spots using flammable materials.

On the same day, while driving to my girlfriend's flat, we spotted another billow of black smoke above Warsaw. Another, smaller rubbish dump yard was on fire, just incidentally.

On the next day (Monday, 13 May) before dawn ten buses (with conventional engines) got burnt down in a bus depot in Bytom. Before midday a roof of a high school in Grodzisk Mazowiecki went into flames during the school-leaving exams. Around the same time, an explosion destroyed training facilities of a firemen school in Poznań. No casualties, except for the third accident.

Was such pile-up of fires a coincidence? Statistically, it is entirely possible. Could it be a part of the hybrid war aimed as destabilising the West, as some politicians claim? Conceivably yes, but there is no proof. Should we worry more than before? Definitely not, the enemy wants to see us scared and we refuse to please our enemy.

Tuesday, 14 May was an uneventful day, or a rather a lull before the storm. Maybe except for the fact all personal data of Santander Bank Polska's staff leaked to hackers.

On Wednesday, 15 May the quite afternoon was interrupted by the news the quite recently elected Slovak prime minister got was shot by an assassin. He ... The very story reminds of the assassination of Gdansk's mayor over five years ago. Except for the major outcome, i.e. unlike Mr Adamowicz, Mr Fico is alive four days past the murder attempt, though far from being on the mend.

If Russia is to blame, they are disturbing our lives patiently, without spectacular attacks on critical infrastructure. Power plants, electricity grid, water treatment, traffic control - those remain either well-protected, or so far are beyond the interest of the empire of evil. Whatever the truth is, no reasons now to become complacent. The evil is patient and pursues its long-term goal, not risking premature moves likely to be foiled.