A major fire broke out at a distillery in the Italian town of Faenza, in the Emilia-Romagna region. Around 60 emergency services were deployed to extinguish the fire, as the fire brigade announced today. 15 plants with a total of 200 cubic meters of alcohol were affected by the flames. The area within a radius of one kilometer was evacuated by the firefighters as a precaution – around 530 people were asked to leave the area around the distillery.
Pictures and videos from the fire brigade showed how dense, black smoke rose into the sky, which was clearly visible from afar. The firefighting operation is complicated because of the highly flammable alcohol – the work of the emergency services is accordingly limited to protecting the unaffected systems and nearby buildings. Because of the heavy smoke development, the regional environmental authority ARPA is also on site to investigate possible effects.
The employees of the distillery first heard an explosive bang, followed by several smaller bangs, as reported by the ANSA news agency. As a result, security measures were taken immediately and the entire site cleared.
