The large fire that broke out yesterday afternoon at the plastic waste processing plant on Bansko Shose Street in the bordering Lyulin residential area, the Republika district, has already been localized and brought under control.
By 4:00 this morning, firefighters had managed to completely limit the spread of the flames within the established perimeter. There are no reports of injured citizens, employees or firefighters.
Water carriers helped the fire department
The signal about the incident in the warehouse of the company “Ecobulpak“ was filed at around 16:30 on July 1. The fire quickly engulfed two large halls with a total area of nearly 2000 square meters. At the peak of the crisis, over 15 fire trucks were sent to the scene. However, the firefighters encountered serious difficulties due to a lack of pressure and water in the nearby hydrants. This forced the Sofia Municipality to immediately provide municipal water carriers to transport water to the outbreak.
Batteries in the trash are the likely cause
The management of the owner company issued an official position, stating that the flames started from the reception department for separately collected waste. The most likely cause of the incident is the presence of discarded batteries or pressurized canisters that spontaneously ignited during the processing of garbage.
The air is clean, but keep the windows closed
Despite the huge columns of black smoke that were visible from almost all of Sofia, measurements by mobile laboratories on site show that there are no dangerous excesses of air quality standards in “Lyulin“ and the surrounding areas. The regional mayor, Georgi Todorov, nevertheless called on citizens not to open the windows of their homes if they sense a specific smell until the fire brigade teams have completely finished extinguishing the smoldering remains.