By: Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, August 12, 2022
Last Friday, August 5, the impact of a lightning strike on tank 51 of the supertanker terminal in the city of Matanzas, Cuba, caused a fire that spread to the four fuel reservoirs of one of its batteries, which caused a fire of major proportions on the island.
As firefighters fight their way through the blaze at the supertanker base to extinguish it for good, authorities are preparing to assess the damage and search for the missing.
From the air, sea and land, specialized forces from the island, Mexico and Venezuela are using high-volume, high-precision technical means to extinguish the small fires that persist, mainly in two of the four tanks that collapsed due to the heat of the flames.
The temperature at the site is still high, but experts consider that the extinction of the fire is irreversible, which may take a few more days given the magnitude of the event.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero wrote on Twitter that the government initiated damage assessment to plan for recovery.
The supertanker base is a strategic objective in the storage and distribution of fuels in the country due to its storage capacity (400 thousand liters) and its proximity to facilities such as the Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas) and Ernesto Guevara (Santa Cruz del Norte) thermoelectric plants. The team that will undertake the search for the missing persons is also ready, which is made up of forensic doctors and anthropologists, according to information provided by the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal.
The smoke, now grayish in color, is still perceptible in this city, although the altitude and size of the plume that sends particles and toxic gases into the atmosphere has decreased.
This material from PrensaLatina.cu was edited for clarity, style and length.
Source and photo: https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2022/08/11/empeno-en-cuba-para-extinguir-incendio-de-grandes-proporciones
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