The fire at the Wildberries warehouse in St. Petersburg was localized by 70 thousand square meters
In Shushary, Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg, on the morning of January 13, one of the largest warehouses of the Wildberries marketplace, located at Moskovskoye Shosse, 153, caught fire. At that moment, there were about a thousand people in the building.
All fire departments in St. Petersburg were dispatched to extinguish the fire. We are negotiating with the Ministry of Emergency Situations about the possibility of extinguishing from a helicopter
The company noted that all employees were evacuated, people were taken out on buses, and no one required medical assistance.
Like later told edition 78.ru, a 22-year-old girl was injured in the fire, she was taken to the hospital with acute inhalation poisoning from combustion products and a bruised elbow, the patient’s condition is satisfactory.
The REN TV channel reported the disappearance of a 20-year-old man. It was noted that the mother could not reach her son, who worked in the warehouse that caught fire.
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Part of the building collapsed during the fire
During the fire, part of the warehouse building, covering an area of 40 square meters, collapsed, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
The area of the fire when the first reports were received was one thousand square meters, later it grew to 50 thousand square meters. At 10:55, the fire was localized to an area of 70 thousand square meters, the department added.
The fire was assigned an increased rank of complexity No. 2. More than a hundred Emergency Situations Ministry employees and 25 pieces of equipment took part in extinguishing it.
Firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the entire area of the warehouse complex and the electrical substation, as well as to remove the threat of the fire spreading to the truck parking lot
Due to heavy smoke, the city department of Rospotrebnadzor of St. Petersburg took away air samples in the Pushkinsky, Kolpinsky and Frunzensky districts for testing to determine the presence of pollution in the residential area. The samples were immediately sent to the laboratory.
Leading expert of the Fire Safety Foundation Konstantin Kuznetsov noted that extinguishing such fires is extremely difficult, since they spread quickly due to the large amount of flammable materials. It is almost impossible to extinguish it using conventional means. The water evaporates before reaching the source of the fire due to high temperatures, the specialist explained.
Several versions of the fire are being considered
The preliminary cause of the fire at the Wildberries warehouse is an electrical wiring fault. According to operational services employees, the situation was aggravated by a disabled fire alarm, which was associated with multiple false alarms.
As Fontanka reported, the fire could have started in a room with packaging film. According to the publication, employees of this block were the first to be evacuated. It is noted that a total of 350 people were in the room at the time of the fire. As the fire began to rise higher and spread, the remaining workers, about 1,600 people in total, were taken out of the warehouse.
RBC, citing a source close to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, noted that three versions of the fire are being considered: arson, careless handling of fire and emergency operation of the electrical network. If the version of arson is proven during the investigation, a criminal case will be initiated.
The prosecutor's office of the Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg began an investigation into the incident. The department intends to evaluate the fire safety measures of the warehouse.
Head of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin instructed initiate a criminal case after a fire in a warehouse complex and submit a report on the circumstances of the incident that have been established to date.
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It became known that the warehouse was operating without an operating permit
The State Construction Supervision Authority of St. Petersburg reported that Wildberries did not apply for permission to commission a warehouse complex in the Pushkinsky district. They received permission to build a building in Shushary with an area of 105.8 thousand square meters. Then a conclusion was issued on the compliance of the constructed facility with the requirements of the documentation.
The next step was supposed to be permission to put into operation, but the company did not receive it. Nevertheless, goods were brought to the warehouse, and employees worked there.
Later, Wildberries refuted the State Construction Supervision Authority’s statement, emphasizing that the warehouse had a document confirming compliance with all requirements.
Wildberries received an AIA for the warehouse in Shushary – this is a conclusion on compliance with all urban planning regulations and safety requirements. To obtain it, a commission is always created, which includes specialists from Rostechnadzor, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Gosstroynadzor, electrical network and fire safety inspectors
The company clarified that the commission confirmed, among other things, the operability of the warning and fire extinguishing systems, an act was signed based on the results of the inspection, after which Gosstroynadzor, based on it, issued a conclusion on compliance with urban planning, sanitary and fire standards.
Wildberries promised to compensate losses to sellers and buyers
Wildberries promised to compensate for losses incurred by sellers and buyers of the marketplace as a result of the fire.
Buyers will be refunded for lost orders. Sellers will receive compensation for damaged or lost items
Contracts with performers in warehouses will not be terminated; they will be able to continue cooperation with the company. The damage is currently being assessed. Source RIA News in the insurance market estimated the material losses of Wildberries at 10-11 billion rubles. It is noted that the fire was the largest among those that affected Russian retail.
Anton Bestugin, co-founder of the TOGO group of e-commerce companies, noted that almost nine percent of all the retailer’s orders were shipped from the warehouse in Shushary. According to him, the point was one of the most convenient for the company in the northwestern region, so its loss looks quite significant for the business.
Lawyers interviewed by Izvestia expressed the opinion that the losses suffered by Wildberries as a result of a fire in a warehouse in St. Petersburg will most likely have to be covered from net profit; the company cannot count on insurance.
Experts pointed out the possible lack of documents on the commissioning of the building; this situation could serve as a refusal to pay compensation.
Provided that the object was not finally put into operation upon completion of construction, no insurance company will most likely take insurance against emergencies such as fires, since there was no final commissioning
An incident of similar magnitude happened in August 2022 at an Ozon warehouse near Moscow, located in the village of Petrovskoye near Novorizhskoye Highway. The fire took more than 17 hours to extinguish, killing three people. Arson was considered the main version of what happened.
The All-Russian Union of Insurers estimated the damage from the fire at 10 billion rubles. According to one warehouse employee, the fire destroyed “millions of tons of goods.”
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