Fire razes Beirut Port after weeks of horrific explosion

A huge fire has razed Beirut’s port, sending up orange flames and a huge plume of black smoke after weeks of recovering from the horrific port explosion that devastated entire neighborhoods last month.

The fire occurred on Thursday, September 10.

The fire appeared to have started in a warehouse belonging to a private company that imported cooking oil; it then spread to a stock of rubber tires, the port’s interim general manager, Bassem El-Kaissi, said in a telephone interview.

“That is why you see the big black clouds,” Mr. El-Kaissi said, adding that it was too early to speculate about how the fire had begun.

READ ALSO: All Lebanon’s govt officials resign over Beirut explosion

The fire broke out in a part of the port near a major highway known as the free zone, where companies store goods intended for import that have not yet cleared customs. The area, like much of the port, was heavily damaged in last month’s blast, which happened after a fire started in a storage hangar for hazardous materials.

The fire sent up giant orange flames and thick smoke that were visible for miles and spread panic inside the port and in neighborhoods ravaged by last month’s blast. Port workers scrambled to flee their offices and residents fled their homes or hid in hallways, fearing that the fire could cause a new explosion.

“I’m telling myself that nothing’s going to happen and it’s probably not a big deal, but you can’t fight the anxiety of opening all the windows, sitting inside a corridor or being jumpy all the time and having people call you, telling you to leave the area,” said Feras Abdallah, 27, an architect whose car and apartment were destroyed by the explosion.

Daily Times reports that the largest explosion in Lebanon’s history, happened last month, when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a compound used in explosives, combusted after a fire broke out in the hangar where it was stored. The compound had been improperly kept in Beirut’s port for years.