A BLAZE destroyed several warehouses at Metsä Tissue's paper mill in Žilina on March 2, causing tens of millions of crowns-worth of damage, according to the SITA newswire.
According to the SITA report, police believe the fire was started by a former employee of a contracting company. The suspect was immediately arrested. At the time of his arrest, he was reportedly intoxicated. If found guilty, he faces a possible prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.
The fire broke out on Sunday just after 19:00 and took firefighters four hours to put out.
Metsä Tissue's regional director for Central and Eastern Europe, Luboš Lopatka, estimates the damage caused at about €10 million. Nobody was hurt during the fire, which damaged two warehouses storing finshed products; the company's manufacturing facilities were unaffected and production continues.
Metsä Tissue is a Finnish company, part of the Metsäliitto Group, and is among the leading European suppliers of hygienic paper products for households and business customers. It took over the Tento company in Žilina in 2006.
