November 25, 2022, 23:20 PM
November 25, 2022, 23:20 PM
After four hours and thanks to the work of dozens of firefighters, the raging fire registered in a plastic factory in the Industrial Park was controlled. So far the precise causes of the incident are still unknown, although several hypotheses are being considered.
It was 5:00 p.m. when the workers of a plastic factory in the Industrial Park noticed that there was a fire in one of the coils, in the upper part of the building. “We were about a hundred workers who were on duty at that time. We tried to control the fire with the fire extinguishers, but they did not work and we had to flee the place.“, said one of the workers of the place after leaving.
By 5:30 p.m., a cloud of black smoke covered the clear sky of Santa Cruz and alerted neighbors and nearby firefighters to the incident. Through photos and videos that went viral on social networks in a matter of minutespeople learned that there was a fire in the industrial zone and that the closest living people had to evacuate.
Fundasol volunteer firefighters, who are just seven blocks from the fire, reacted immediately and came to the rescue. “But because of the flammable raw material that was in that factory, the fire spread too far. quickly and toxic smoke began to invade the area”, commented Enrique Bruno, from Fundasol.
More than thirty volunteers came to help, in addition to the three cars. However, they were not the only ones, the firefighters of the Police and other institutions also responded to the emergency; despite this, the fire consumed more than 70% of the infrastructure, with everything and equipment.
At 8:00 p.m., through the media and social networks, the firefighters tried to convince the neighbors to evacuate their homes, since the level of toxicity of the smoke was too high.. Staying in that place was a health risk.
As of 9:00 p.m., the firefighters glimpsed the fruit of their efforts and began to control the flames in the place. “After four hours, the fire was just put out,” Bruno confirmed.
Although there are several hypotheses about the cause of the accident, the firefighters and owners of those facilities prefer not to issue them and wait for the investigations.
“Just over 20% could be saved, but most were consumed by fire. We were dozens of firefighters trying to put out a fire that had flammable material in its path, it was a plastics factory,” Bruno remarked.
According to the version of this volunteer fire chief, about six people were affected due to smoke inhalation and one had to be transferred to a medical center because he had a cut on his hand, he needed a suture.
It is expected that in the course of the next few hours the stage of cooling and removal, to prevent reactivation.
