Cuban oil depot fire finally under control after 5 days

• Lightning struck a petroleum storage tank at Matanzas super tanker port on Friday.
• The fire had moved to a second location by Sunday and had consumed the four-tank area by Monday.
• Officials have not said how much fuel was consumed in the fire that destroyed all four tanks.

On Tuesday, firefighters finally put an end to what authorities characterized as the largest fire in Cuban history, which had damaged 40% of the Caribbean island’s primary gasoline storage facility and caused huge outages over five days.

Witnesses told Reuters that the blazing flames that engulfed a four-tank section of the Matanzas super tanker port had cooled down, and the towering clouds of dense black smoke flowing from the region had shrunk and were now primarily grey.

Matanzas is Cuba’s busiest port for importing crude oil and petroleum. Cuban heavy crude, as well as fuel oil and diesel held at Matanzas in ten massive tanks, are mostly utilised to power the island.

On Friday evening, lightning hit a petroleum storage tank. The fire had moved to a second location by Sunday and had consumed the four-tank area by Monday, despite attempts by local firemen and more than 100 Mexican and Venezuelan reinforcements.

On the smoldering edges of the tragedy, firefighter Rafael Perez Garriga told Reuters that he is concerned about the country’s electricity situation.

“The situation is going to be more difficult. If the thermoelectric plants are supplied with that oil, we are going to have the whole world affected, it is electricity and it affects everything,” he said.

Under US sanctions, the Communist-run nation is almost insolvent. Following last summer’s historic riots in July, frequent blackouts and shortages of fuel and other essentials had already created a tense environment with scattered local rallies.

On Tuesday, additional helicopters joined the operation to put out the fire, as did two fireboats and heavy firefighting equipment donated from Mexico.

“We have not yet been able to access the impact area due to the conditions. There is combustion and so we cannot risk our lives for now,” Perez said around noon.

Later in the day, firemen entered the scene for the first time, splashing foam and water on the still-smoldering remnants.

“Today we have managed to control the fire,”  Rolando Vecino, chief of transport for the Ministry of the Interior, said from the site on state-run television.

Officials have not said how much fuel was consumed in the fire that destroyed all four tanks. According to authorities, no oil had polluted the surrounding Matanzas Bay. Despite this, they advised inhabitants as far away as Havana to wear face masks and avoid acid rain owing to the large plume of smoke produced by the fire.

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