The Civil Protection Department’s chief assistance and rescue officer revealed that it took 50 firefighters, 320,000 litres of water, 10 vehicles and seven hours to put out a foodstuffs warehouse fire.
The French broke out in Santa Venera on Monday afternoon at around 4:30pm, just 30 minutes after the workers closed up shop. The warehouse, located in Triq il-Ħarrub and owned by Strand Palace Agencies, is used for storage of foodstuffs and other raw material.
The last of the flames were extinguished by 11:30pm, but officers were told to remain on site to put out minor flames that broke out during the night. The first firetrucks answered the call a few minutes after the first flames were detected.
The CPD official said that it was evident from the start of the accident that the operation was going to be drawn out and delicate. Officers removed potentially dangerous items such as LPG gas cylinders which were lying inside the warehouse, as well s a number of 45-litre tanks full of oil.
Explosions could be heard mere hours from inside the building after the fire broke out. The temperature inside the warehouse peaked at 350 degrees Celsius, Pace revealed.
Police spokesperson Brandon Pisani confirmed that an inquiry is being held, and that officers on site helped with the evacuation of residents from adjacent buildings as a precaution. Yesterday, following the incident, Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement Minister Byron Camilleri took to Facebook to praise the hard work of all those involved in mitigating the incident.
He said that such situations show why investments into vehicles and other apparatus are important. ‘When it is needed, our workers have the best tools to protect us’ he said. This followed mere hours after the Minister inaugurated an investment of €1.6 million into 4 new Civil Protection vehicles.
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