Brazil News
RIO DE JANEIRO – Firefighters battled a Sunday morning fire that started on the 17th floor of a highrise office building on Avenida Rio Branco, in downtown Rio at about 7 am. Six trucks, a Magirus ladder truck and 30 men responded but the equipment didn’t reach the 17th floor, delaying the start of work, reported online media.
Highrise Fire in Downtown Rio de Janeiro
Firefighters entered the building to fight the fire from the inside. According to the Fire Department, the city of Rio de Janeiro has only one ladder truck capable of reaching higher floors, and it is down for maintenance. Witnesses could see debris falling on the pavement, including an air conditioner which fell to the sidewalk. Authorities cordoned off the area for safety.
The City of Rio de Janeiro Fire Department has only one ladder truck capable of reaching higher floors
Law firms occupy the 15th through 17th floors. Firefighters believe the building was empty and that there were no casualties, since it’s a Sunday. Firefighters controlled the flames by 10 am and they continued to mop up hot spots for another 45 minutes before the declared the fire extinguished.
According to the commander of the Central Fire Headquarters, Lt. Colonel André Melo, a large amount of paper in the law offices facilitated the spread of the fire. “It is a time-consuming job because you need to turnover everything looking for hot spots.” He also pointed out that at the scene, firefighters found that the fire-prevention system of the building was inadequate and they found it impossible to use water from the building.
“The building’s preventive system was not adequate, there was not water in the fire-box, we had to pump water from our vehicles to the fire-box,” said the Lt. Colonel.
Lawyer Ana Lacativa, who works in an oil research company housed on the 19th floor of the building, arrived on the scene this morning as soon as she learned of the fire. “I came as soon as I heard. Thankfully the fire did not spread to other floors. Now I have to warn other employees that tomorrow we will have to work from home,” she said.
