A large-scale fire broke out in the early hours of this Wednesday in the industrial zone of Barranquilla, which caused the death of a firefighter during the extinction work and which paralyzes all port operations in the area.
(Impressive images: underwater fire in marine oil pipeline).
All fire units are attending to the emergency to prevent it from spreading further, Jaime Pérez, commander of the Fire Department of this city located in northern Colombia, told the press.
In the first hours of the operation he lost his life Firefighter Javier Henríquez Solano Ruíz, 53, who received a severe blow to the head when he fell after an explosion in a fuel tank, the fire official explained.
“Since 4:00 am of the day there is a fire, the causes of which we do not know, which affects the liquid plant of the operator Bravo Petroleum, located in our terminal in this city; To control this situation, the operator’s team has been working from the outset with the authorities and the city’s Fire Department. Compas is providing permanent collaboration with Bravo Petroleum”reported the company Compas in a statement to public opinion in which it also regrets the death of firefighter Henríquez.
(Emergency at the Cauca sugar mill due to a gigantic fire).
According to information from the Fire Department, the operation to control the emergency will take at least three or four days because you have to wait for all the fuel in the affected tanks to be consumed.
At the moment, route 40 between the roundabout of the Las Flores neighborhood and 85th street with Vía 40 is closed.
“The aim is to prevent the flames from spreading to other tanks that are in the warehouse,” Captain Perez scored.
(The fire that consumed vineyards and a 3-Michelin-star restaurant).
To attend to the fire, the participation of the tugboats from the Port of Barranquilla was necessary because from land the magnitude of the conflagration makes it impossible to reach the starting point of the flames. The Captaincy of the Port of Barranquilla reported that since 5 in the morning all operations in the terminal have been suspended, while the General Maritime and Coast Guard Directorate of the Colombian Navy continue to support and monitor the restrictions on the access channel.
Likewise, the Barranquilla authorities confirmed that the Magdalena River is being affected by the dumping of fuels from the epicenter of the fire. The extent of the contamination has not been confirmed.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EFE
