Fire in Matanzas: why they have not managed to control the gigantic fire in a fuel depot in Cuba in 3 days and other keys

A large column of smoke casts a shadow over western Cuba.

At least one person died, 16 are missing and some 125 were injured after a fire in the largest fuel depot on the island that, almost three days later, has not been extinguished.

Rescue groups from Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela were working Monday to try to put out the flames, but the situation worsened after a third warehouse caught fire and collapsed in the morning hours.

“The risk that we had announced occurred,” provincial governor Mario Sabines confirmed to the local press, referring to the spread of the fire to other warehouses.

In a tweet on Monday morning, President Miguel Díaz-Canel indicated that the authorities continued “evaluating the strategy for the next few hours” and indicated that what happens this Monday will be decisive in controlling the fire.

“It is a crucial, decisive day,” he said.

Images in local media and social networks show that the smoke has reached the provinces of Mayabeque and even Havana, while some towns in Matanzas have reported toxic rains.

But why has it been so difficult to contain this fire?

At BBC Mundo we offer you some clues about the disaster.

The fire started Friday night when lightning struck a storage tank near the Super Tanker Base of the city of Matanzas, according to the official version.

The strong wind made extinguishing work difficult and carried the flames to a second deposit that exploded at 07:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Saturday.

After a new explosion on Sunday, the fuel reached a third tank that also caught fire.

Although the official press assures that the warehouses had lightning rods, it is unknown if they were effective or if the place had more modern protection systems against electric shocks, the necessary equipment for emergency situations or for fire control.

Cuban meteorology historian Luis Enrique Ramos Guadalupe told Granma that this would be the most devastating event in history associated with lightning.

“There are no references in the archives of a similar event that has generated a sinister of such magnitude. According to the analyzed chronology, the first fire caused by that cause took place on June 30, 1741, when in the middle of a storm, a lightning fell on one of the sticks of the ship Invincible, moored at the San Francisco dock in Havana,” he said.

Since Friday, numerous explosions have been heard and a dense column of smoke has spread more than 100 kilometers to the west.

Meanwhile, the health authorities have asked the population of Matanzas to wear masks to avoid breathing in toxic particles.

Why hasn’t it been controlled?

Cuba, which is experiencing a deep economic crisis and a shortage of the most essential products, such as soap or medicines, does not have the technology and resources necessary to put out this type of fire and its infrastructure is aged or extremely deficient.

Despite the size of the fire, only three helicopters had been deployed to the area as of Monday morning and were trying to control the fire with “sea water,” according to the official Cubadebate site.

“Three military helicopters made more than 60 launches of seawater of 2,500 liters each, in the area of ​​the incident, where this morning the dome of a third fuel tank collapsed,” the publication said.

He added that later on Monday a “fumigation plane” would be incorporated.

The governor of Matanzas indicated that one of the elements that has complicated the tasks of the firefighters is the difficult access to the burned area due to the density of the smoke and the lack of oxygen.

Cuba’s rescue teams, moreover, are not used to or trained for situations of this type, given that a large part of the island’s firefighters are young people who perform compulsory military service.

Facing their inability to control the fire on Saturday, the Cuban government asked for international help and teams from Venezuela and Mexico were among the first to arrive on the island.

According to the Cuban authorities, some 60 members of the Mexican Armed Forces and 16 technicians from the Pemex oil company are at the scene of the incident, along with another 35 specialist firefighters and technicians from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

This Monday, Granma reported that a Venezuelan pumping equipment called Dominator would start operating to release chemical agents to help dissipate the fire.

The level of crude oil in the tanks is another factor that seems to complicate the tasks, according to the local press.

The eight tanks that the facility has have a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters each (the equivalent of 15 Olympic swimming pools), although it is not clear at the moment the amount of fuel that the burning tanks had.

However, it is known that it was there that the 700,000 barrels sent by Russia to the island last June arrived.

What is known about the victims?

Granma identified the only deceased reported so far as Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, 62, who worked for the special fire protection command of a refinery in Cienfuegos province.

Another 16 people are still missing, apparently firefighters who arrived at the scene in the first hours of the fire, according to the official press.

Cuban authorities have not identified the missing persons and announced that the recovery of bodies will not begin until the fire is extinguished.

The Ministry of Health reported this Monday that of the twenty people who remain hospitalized, five are in critical condition and two are in serious condition.

About 5,000 inhabitants of the surrounding area have been evacuated and the authorities asked the residents of Matanzas on Monday to close doors and windows to avoid the potential inhalation of toxic gases.

The column of smoke began to be visible this Monday in the capital, where some areas were even darkened, according to images published by the local press and social networks.

The local Radio 26 reported the fall of contaminated rain in some localities of Matanzas.

What have been the material damages?

Cuban authorities have not yet offered a preliminary damage assessment, but the Matanzas Supertanker Base is the main fuel storage and transfer facility on the island.

The place where the fire occurred is in an industrial area near the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, one of the largest in Cuba, which went out of operation this Monday as a result.

The fire also occurs at a time when the island is experiencing a widespread energy crisis that has led to constant and prolonged blackouts in most of the country.

In some locations on the island, they have only had electricity for one or two hours a day, as confirmed by the Electric Union.

In Matanzas is the Varadero beach, the main tourist destination on the island that is still trying to recover from the devastation left by the coronavirus pandemic.

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