More than 30 crews battle Giebułtów workshop fire as safety questions remain

The fire broke out on Saturday evening, November 14, 2026, on Świętego Idziego Street. Smoke rising over the village alarmed residents as flames rapidly took hold across a substantial part of the building’s structure. Firefighters were tackling the workshop while also trying to prevent the fire from reaching neighboring buildings. Those buildings were being protected; they were not reported to have caught fire.⁠1

Fakt’s report, published at 22:43 local time, put the response at more than 30 crews, attributing that figure to RMF24. This was a count of fire-service response units, not individual firefighters. No exact personnel total was established. It nevertheless shows the breadth of an operation drawing resources from Kraków and several surrounding municipalities.⁠1

Inside the premises were flammable materials and chemical substances, according to firefighters cited by Fakt. RMF24 also reported that the contents of the workshop and paint shop were complicating the operation. Neither account identified the substances or their quantities, and the reporting did not establish a specific toxic release or measured exposure. The confirmed problem was a substantial building fire made harder to fight by what was stored inside.⁠1⁠2

The response extended across Kraków and the municipalities of Wielka Wieś, Zabierzów and Zielonki. Super Express, relaying information from the local emergency-information profile Patrol998-Małopolska, listed volunteer brigades from Giebułtów, Modlnica, Zielonki, Zabierzów and Michałowice among those taking part. Crews from Kraków’s professional fire-and-rescue units JRG 3 and JRG 5 also joined the operation.⁠2⁠3

Getting those crews to the scene was only part of the task. Fire-service vehicles were moving between water collection points to maintain the firefighting supply, according to a Kraków112 notice reproduced by Gazeta Krakowska and Super Express. The operation therefore depended on access beyond the burning property: vehicles also needed clear routes to the places supplying water.⁠11⁠3

That explains the practical force of the appeal to residents. People were asked to avoid the area around Świętego Idziego Street, keep a safe distance, leave emergency routes unobstructed and follow instructions from the services at the scene. The Kraków112 notice warned of a long, difficult night for firefighters and residents. It was a warning about the work ahead, not an announced finishing time.⁠2⁠11

The disruption reached public transport, too. Gazeta Krakowska relayed an MPK Kraków notice that movement on bus line 220 was blocked in both directions. No reopening time was established. That evening’s notice documents the interruption during the response; it does not establish how long the blockage lasted or when buses resumed running.⁠11

The human toll was still unresolved in the evening accounts. Fakt and RMF24 said there was no information about injured people. That is not the same as a confirmed count of zero injuries, nor does it establish that everyone who may have been inside had been accounted for. The reports did not give a verified number of people present when the fire began.⁠1⁠2

The description of flames across a substantial part of the structure also needs care. It establishes extensive involvement in the fire, not that the entire building was destroyed. There was no verified damaged-floor-area estimate or financial loss assessment. How much could be recovered remained a question for an assessment once access was safe.⁠1⁠3

Nor had the cause been established. RMF24 reported that a police investigation after the firefighting operation was expected to determine how the blaze began. That was an account of the next investigative step, not a finding of accident, deliberate ignition or responsibility.⁠2