“When I opened the window, it was not seen one meter in front.” How the residents of Pantelimon lived the massive fire that generated 3 RO-Alert messages and 7 times larger pollution in Bucharest

A huge wave of smoke created panic in almost all of Bucharest, on Tuesday night, with inhabitants of five sectors believing that the fire burns just under their window. If so felt miles away from Fire at Pantelimon warehouseHotnews reporters wanted to find out how it was Tuesday evening for people who were a few meters away from threatening flames.

“Smoke is still coming out, look at what's here!”, Says one of the people who are in a hurry in front of the deposit that still smokes. Almost 24 hours after the fire broke out, firefighters are still struggling to liquidate it.

We are on the Hobița number 6 alley, in Pantelimon, where, on Tuesday night, the Entafrig warehouse was filled with flames. The Hobița alley is closed by the police until the flames are completely liquidated, but the pedestrians and cyclists can pass by the burnt warehouse.

“Last night you could not breathe on the street”

The smell strikes you strongly as you do the right on Fântânica Street, and in front of the warehouse becomes unbearable. It's peak time, when Bucharest people return home, but fewer people are on the street. They pass into speed and cover their nose and mouth with clothes, or with napkins. Only a few stop to take pictures or film and look curious at the halls destroyed by fire.

“Last night you could not breathe on the street,” says Ilie, who works as a guard in a park in the area. “I stay on, in Iancului, but I was lucky that I quickly closed my windows. Now, the fire is not completely extinguished,” he adds.

Codruț, who lives nearby, on Pantelimon road, remembers the moment he saw the flames. It was 20:15, when his girlfriend asked to check the sockets, because he smelled. He had not yet received the RO-Alert messages and did not know it was a fire.

“When I opened the window, it was not seen one meter in front. I saw the fire, I quickly closed the windows, but for nothing. He entered the hood, on the window, smells in the house bad. In the morning I woke up with a bitter taste from the smoke. I started the air purifiers and I closed everything.”

Some have left home, stuck with fear and smoke

At a store behind the block, the owner tells that the fire vents helped him. Now he holds the door wide open, because he seems to smell less smoke and can ventilate. He lives further and says that the smoke did not affect the home.

Two of his friends, customers of the store, left last night, shortly after the fire started. “Some of them also chose to leave, for fear of expanding the fire, but also because the smoke in the house was unbearable,” says the man.

This is also the case of a woman who lives in the blocks on the alley, face to face with the hall. “We left with my family last night, because we had alternatives and we thought there is no point in staying here.”

“When I came in the morning, at 7 o'clock, a white smoke came out, like when you put water on a hot barbecue. And when I left, you didn't see in front of you because of the smoke,” the woman describes the image of the fire.

“Molted plastic dripping”

Mihăiță lives on the fifth floor of the block in front of the Entafrig Hall, together with their wife and their three mots.

“I stay here, at five. The smell of burnt rubber entered until I managed to close everything, from the balcony and the house,” recalls the man. He says he saw the fire before it expands, from the balcony. “From the bridge dripped the melted plastic, like a small river. I saw from the balcony as it burns everything.”

Mihăiță says he did not panic, because the firefighters intervened quickly and there was no danger of expansion. “I was scared only the kittens and my wife,” he jokes.

The man says he mostly affected the smell.

“With the windows and the door closed there was nothing, no problem. I had no worry, because what burned here makes a small flame, and the wind took the smoke here to Fântânica. That is why it scattered in the city. However, it is dangerous, that you get used to the smell, but I do not smell.

I found, on the other hand, a woman who came especially to see the consequences of the fire, from the Obor area. “I wanted to see, but we can't breathe here. At home it was bad, bad. All the smoke entered the window,” says the woman, who had come with her granddaughter to the warehouse.

The fire that affected the whole of Bucharest

The fire from the Entifrig broke out on Tuesday evening, around 8 pm, and manifested on an area of ​​about 7,000 square meters, according to ISU Bucharest-Ilfov.

“Next to the fire affected by the fire are other storage spaces only 10 meters away, and the homes at 30-40 meters away. Our efforts are focused on locating the fire and limiting the propagation to the other spaces. There are no injured as a result of this event, and on the spot there are over 20 special vehicles,” fire. Then, about 100 firefighters intervened at the scene.

Until Wednesday night, the firefighters had failed to liquidate it. However, a policeman on the spot told us, however, that the authorities expect the fire to be extended overnight.

Three RO-Allert messages were issued on Tuesday evening for warning the population, warning that there are large smoke releases and that people are advised to bypass the area. The smoke covered the whole city and expanded including in Ilfov county.
According to the Ministry of Environment, on Basarabia Boulevard the concentrations of polluting particles reached values ​​up to 350 µg/m³, more than seven times higher than the allowed limit. The most affected areas were Mega Mall – Fântânica – the Armenian Cemetery, where the smoke was dense and toxic.