Fire from oil depot in Rostov region spreads to residential buildings (video)

An oil depot in the Rostov region has been burning for seven days. Now local residents are reporting that “the entire Chapaeva Street with residential buildings is burning.”

However, the authorities claim that the new fire in Proletarsk is not connected with the fire at the oil depot that has been going on for several days. Rostov Region Governor Vasily Golubev said on his Telegram channel: “The fires are located 5 km apart.” Maxim Tolpinsky, head of the Proletarsk urban settlement administration, says:

At the same time, Golubev announced the introduction of a ban on holding mass events in the open air in the Rostov Region “until further notice.” Golubev did not specify the reason for the ban.

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, a fire at an oil depot in Proletarsk, Rostov Oblast, has spread beyond the depot. According to the agency, the fire first spread to dry vegetation, and later to residential buildings. According to the agency, the fire started in reeds near a reservoir on the outskirts of the city, but due to strong winds, the fire spread to three buildings on a nearby street – two residential buildings and one under construction.

37 specialists and 23 units of equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire. The Shot Telegram channel, citing local residents, writes that “the entire Chapaeva Street with residential buildings is on fire” (video). At the same time, some city residents do not agree with the version of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and claim that the emergency could have occurred as a result of deliberate arson.

Ukrainian drones attacked the oil depot in Proletarsk on the morning of August 18. A state of emergency has been in effect in the city since August 19 due to a fire that broke out at the facility. At least 49 Emergencies Ministry employees were injured while fighting the fire, which engulfed dozens of fuel tanks, local authorities reported on August 22. On Friday, August 23, it became known that the oil depot had been attacked by drones again.

The priests of the Russian Orthodox Church, hoping to fight the flames, held a prayer service, but it did not help. On the evening of August 21, after the ceremony, an explosion occurred at the oil depot, the flames were seen in the neighboring city of Salsk, located 30 km from Proletarsk, tells The Moscow Times.

This oil depot was already attacked by a drone on May 15. There were two explosions, but a fire was avoided and no one was hurt.

In total, the base, which is part of the state reserve, contains 74 fuel tanks with a capacity of 5,000 tons each. The damage from the fire could be comparable to the annual budget of an average Russian regional center. The total cost of the fuel stored at the base is about $200 million or 18 billion rubles, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal journalist Yaroslav Trofimov based on the domestic Russian price of diesel (about $500 per ton).

According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, this is comparable to the annual budget of such cities as Orel (14.6 billion rubles), Kursk (16.4 billion rubles) or Izhevsk (21.4 billion rubles), and is also 1.5 times larger than the treasury of, for example, Smolensk (12 billion rubles) or Ivanovo (11.1 billion).

Meanwhile, owners of oil depots in the Rostov region rushed to get rid of assets against the backdrop of attacks from Ukraine. The number of advertisements for the sale of such objects increased after drones struck a fuel storage facility in Proletarsk, drew attention RostovGazeta.

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