A vast fire And flared up inside the Milan warehouse Bovisa of the BRT shipping company (known by the previous name of Bartolini), located in via Don Giovanni Minzoni 10. The flameswhich broke out just before 7.30pm yesterday Wednesday 8 July, involved a shed used for parcel sorting of approx 8,000 square meters (a football field, so to speak, is approximately 7,000 m2), also involving some administrative offices and several vehicles parked in the front yard. The cloud of smoke created was good visible from all over the city of Milan: fortunately, no one was injured.
Today, Thursday 9 July, the flames they were tame for 95%, even if firefighters are conducting operations cooling since two containers loaded with electric bikes – with lithium ion batteries – are continuing to burn. Meanwhile, ARPA Lombardy has confirmed that there are people present at the site of the fire pollutants typical of combustion, but the concentrations are not worryingalso thanks to the dispersion of fumes into the atmosphere.
ARPA Lombardia’s findings on air quality
Already on Wednesday evening, the team from the Milan department of ARPA Lombardia reached the site of the fire to carry out the first measurements on air quality with the instruments supplied. The surveys carried out around the company perimeter they did not highlight critical values for pollutants that can be monitored directly on site: pollutants typical of combustion were detected, the concentrations of which were not worrying, also thanks to the dispersion of fumes into the atmosphere.
During the night, the Agency’s technicians installed a high-volume sampler in via Baldinucci, positioned in line with the forecast map of smoke fallout developed by the specialist atmospheric contamination group. The first sampler filter it should be collected this afternoon July 9th and sent to the Milan laboratory for the search for possible micropollutants, in particular dioxins, furans and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
In the meantime, the Municipality of Milan, given the new rapid findings by ARPA carried out during the morning, has provided specific indications for the population residing within a radius of 500 meters from via Don Minzoni 10:
- Do not use green spaces public;
- Avoid physical activityopen;
- Do not use cultivated vegetables on the balcony or in the vegetable gardens;
- In schools And nests avoid the use of outdoor spaces.
The possible dynamics of the fire and the intervention of the Fire Brigade
According to initial information, the fire may have started from a container probably coated in polyurethaneand then extended to one of the warehouses dedicated to parcel sortingeven if this is a hypothesis yet to be confirmed with investigative investigations. At that point the flames would have spread rapidly, progressively involving the truck trailers connected to the loading ramps. Meanwhile, the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened aninvestigation to reconstruct the causes of the fire.
An impressive rescue device was deployed on site: approx 50 firefighterscoming from the commands of Milan and Monza, operated with 6 tank fire engines (APS), 4 pump tankers (ABP), 3 ladder trucksa air carriageThe SAPR core (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, i.e. drones) and a half TRID (a basket for working at heights). The operations were coordinated by the Provincial Commander of the Milan Fire Brigade.
One of the priority objectives of the firefighters was impede that the flames reached the structures and fuel depots present in the surrounding area. In fact, in the vicinity of the BRT depot there is another large freight forwarder, as well as the Bovisa campus of the Milan Polytechnic, a sports center and a restaurant business.
After the firefighters worked continuously all night, the fire was considered tamedwith 95% of the fire having been extinguished. However, two containers loaded with electric bikes with lithium ion batteries are continuing to burn: the batteries inside them represent a risk for possible new explosions, with the Fire Brigade therefore conducting a cooling operation.
Fires caused by electric batteries, in fact, are particularly difficult to put out, since a damaged lithium battery does not need an external flame to continue burning: when one of the internal cells becomes damaged or heats up too much, internal chemical reactions are triggered which generate further heat and flames, spreading in a chain to neighboring cells.
