A fire briefly spread through pavilions used for UN climate negotiations in Brazil and caused evacuations on Thursday, the penultimate day of the conference, with authorities saying 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
Organizers said the fire was brought under control in about six minutes. Firefighters ordered the evacuation of the entire conference site, known as COP30, and it was unclear when negotiations would resume.
Brazil’s Tourism Minister Celso Sabino told journalists on site that the fire started near the China Pavilion, which was among several pavilions set up for events parallel to the climate negotiations.
The fire quickly spread to neighboring pavilions, said Samuel Rubin, one of those responsible for an entertainment and culture pavilion. He said nearby pavilions include many of the African pavilions and one focused on youth.
Videos showed huge flames in one of the pavilions, which are tent or reinforced fabric structures, usually with three walls and a floor.
Pará Governor Helder Barbalho told local news portal G1 that a generator failure or a short circuit in a cabin may have started the fire.
Much of the summit site in Belém was still under construction until the conference opened, with exposed beams, open plywood floors, and metal mesh corridors leading nowhere outside the convention center. During a pre-summit event, it was possible to hear drilling and jackhammers while world leaders spoke and dozens of helmeted workers rushed around unfinished pavilions covered in plastic.
Gabi Andrade, a COP30 volunteer from host city Belém, said she has been working on accreditations at the conference for the last three weeks. Thursday was her first free afternoon, and she had just finished lunch and was exploring the Singapore pavilion when the fire started.
She said she saw black smoke. A security guard held her hand and led her to the exit as she cried and shouted “fire”.
Under the shock of the situation, she worried about what this would mean for Brazil’s reputation in hosting the negotiations. “It’s so sad for us,” she said. “We all worked so hard.”
Source: npr.org