Fire
Major fire in an Italian distillery
A major fire broke out at a distillery in the Italian town of Faenza, in the Emilia-Romagna region. photo
© Vigili del Fuoco/dpa
A fire in an Italian distillery threatens to spread to 200 cubic meters of alcohol. As a precaution, the fire brigade evacuated the area within a radius of one kilometer.
A major fire broke out at a distillery in the Italian town of Faenza, in the Emilia-Romagna region. A total of 60 emergency services have been busy extinguishing the fire since Monday afternoon, according to the fire brigade. 15 plants with a total of 200 cubic meters of alcohol are affected by the flames. There are currently no injuries. The area within a radius of one kilometer was evacuated by the firefighters as a precaution – around 530 people were asked to leave the area around the distillery. The cause of fire was unclear for the moment.
Pictures and videos from the fire brigade showed how dense, black smoke rose into the sky, which was clearly visible from afar. The firefighting operation is complicated because of the highly flammable alcohol – the work of the emergency services is accordingly limited to protecting the unaffected systems and nearby buildings. Because of the heavy smoke development, the regional environmental authority Arpa is also on site to investigate possible effects.
Distillery workers first heard an explosive bang, followed by several smaller bangs, the Ansa news agency reported. Accordingly, security measures were immediately initiated and the entire area cleared.
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