The warehouse’s owner, Wildberries, said in a statement that all of its staff had been evacuated and there were no injuries.
However, media outlet Baza reported on its Telegram channel that two other people had been hospitalized as staff struggled to escape the rapidly advancing fire. The warehouse is located in the Pushkin district, south of St. Petersburg, the country’s second largest district. largest city.
Russian media, cited by Nexta, reported that the damage caused by the fire could amount to 11 billion rubles, or about $122 million.
Smoke rises over the burning warehouse of the Wildberries store in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Jan. 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Anton Vaganov)
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According to the first knowledge reported through Baza, the first alarm sounded in the warehouse around 4:20 a. m.
Baza posted a video showing a frantic scene inside the warehouse where a large number of employees were trying to squeeze through narrow doors to escape the inferno.
The fire extinguishing system did not work when the fire began to flare up on shelves that contained household chemicals, the outlet reported, citing a worker. Many jumped from the second and third floors directly onto the concrete, because there was a strong crush at the emergency exit.
“According to the workers, they didn’t know where to run when the chimney burst, so they rushed to the warehouse in horror. There were so many people that they kept coming down from the third floor even though the chimney was already getting closer. in the first,” the report says.
Firefighters paint to put out a chimney in a warehouse in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on January 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Dmitry Vasilyev)
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As the fire devastated most of the premises, chimneys stored in the warehouse began to explode inside the building, according to Baza.
It is unclear exactly what sparked the large fire, which spread across 70,000 square meters, or more than 750,000 square feet. The fire was classified as category five, the most serious. Authorities said firefighters had controlled to prevent the spread of the virus.
Dark plumes of smoke spread for miles from a burning warehouse in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Jan. 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Anton Vaganov)
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The state-run news agency Tass, cited by Newsweek, reported that the cause of the fire was a malfunction of electrical wiring and that emergency services said that the fire alarm had been turned off due to repeated false alarms.
However, Newsweek reported that a source inside the branch told Russian media outlet RBC that an arson was being investigated following a fight that took place near the warehouse on Wednesday night. An Azerbaijani worker hospitalized with stab wounds and a Tajik citizen were also injured. Russian security forces then stormed the warehouse.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a member of Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
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