After five days of a huge fire in oil tanks in Matanzas, a city in western Cuba, firefighters were finally able to control the fire in the late afternoon of Tuesday (9).
The event, which Cuban authorities have called the worst fire in the country’s history, destroyed about 40% of the island’s main fuel depot, causing power outages and leaving at least one dead and 14 missing.
As of midday (local time), firefighters had not been able to access the area due to the flames. Containment work was mainly being done by planes, helicopters and boats. It was only at the end of the day that it was possible to enter for the first time and spray foam and water on the still smoking places.
Authorities did not say how much fuel was lost in the fire, which destroyed all four tanks at the depot, and said no oil had contaminated neighboring Matanzas Bay. However, they urged residents of cities as far away as Havana (105 kilometers) to wear masks and avoid acid rain due to the huge cloud of smoke generated by the fire.
The large-scale fire started on Friday night (5), when lightning struck a tank that is part of a plant with eight large fuel tanks. This first structure contained 26 thousand cubic meters of oil, almost 50% of the maximum capacity; in the early hours of Saturday (6), it collapsed, and the flames spread to a second tank, with 52 thousand cubic meters of fuel.
On Monday, the fire spread and consumed the area of ​​four tanks, despite the efforts of local firefighters who had the support of another 100 Mexican and Venezuelan reinforcements.
One firefighter died — identified as Juan Carlos Santana, 60 — and 14 others have been missing since Saturday. Five officers remain in critical condition.
Provincial governor Mario Sabines said the flames spread like an “Olympic torch” from one tank to the next, turning each unit into a “cauldron”.
The port of Matanzas is the main port on the island for receiving oil products — the product is mainly used to supply energy, leaving there to supply thermoelectric plants.
Firefighter Rafael Perez Garriga told Reuters he feared the fire would affect Cuba’s energy situation. “The situation will get more difficult. If the thermoelectric plants are supplied with this oil, we will have the whole world affected, it is electricity and it affects everything,” he said.
The tragedy comes in the midst of yet another serious crisis on the Caribbean island – which lives under heavy US sanctions – involving the shortage of electricity, aggravated by the precarious conditions in the thermoelectric plants. Since May, regime authorities have predicted blackouts every 12 hours, which has led to occasional protests in small towns.
Cuba currently has an average power distribution capacity of 2,500 megawatts, which is insufficient to meet demand at peak consumption times, which reaches 2,900 megawatts, according to official data.
