A major fire in St. Petersburg covers the city in smoke. The warehouse of an online wholesaler is ablaze. Photos show the unimaginable extent.
Update from January 13th, 6:59 p.m.: Large parts of Saint Petersburg were enveloped in thick clouds of smoke on Saturday. A fire broke out in a warehouse belonging to the online retailer Wildberries in the early hours of the morning and quickly spread. Apparently no one was injured; according to Russian reports, the fire is now under control.
However, things continue to simmer on social media. Voices critical of Russia suspect that the major fire was arson as a reaction against the Russian military. Accordingly, “mass employees were arrested at the company location and sent to fight in Ukraine,” wrote the Kremlin critic Igor Sushko on X (formerly Twitter). A few days earlier, military investigators were said to have checked the work permits of the mostly young employees. This cannot be verified independently.
The company, on the other hand, attributes the fire to a “fault in the electrical wiring,” a spokesman told the state Russian news agency Tass said. The spokesman explained that the fire alarm had been switched off by saying that false alarms had previously been triggered several times and that it had therefore been deliberately switched off.
Major fire in Russia: “Unimaginable cloud of smoke” over Saint Petersburg
First report from January 13th, 5:04 p.m.: Saint Petersburg – A devastating fire has hit the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the country's second largest city. Firefighters struggle to contain the massive flames while a huge cloud of smoke covers the city.
Fire in St. Petersburg: Online retailer Wildberries warehouse is on fire
On Saturday (January 13th), a fire broke out in a warehouse belonging to the online retailer Wildberries. The company, which is comparable to Amazon in Russia, stores a variety of products in this building. The cause of the fire remains unclear.
The fire is spreading at an alarming rate. By the afternoon, 70,000 square meters had already been affected, according to Russian civil protection. Russian media are already reporting damage amounting to 10 to 11 billion rubles (around 114 million euros).
Pictures of major fire go viral: “The entire south of St. Petersburg is covered in unimaginable smoke”
Images of the enormous cloud of smoke spread quickly on the Internet. Parts of the city are reportedly completely blacked out. Anton Gerashenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, posted photos and videos on
Was the major fire caused by arson? An anonymous source informed the RBC news portal that investigators are considering a criminal background. However, so far there is no evidence of this.
No injuries in the Wildberries warehouse in St. Petersburg
One positive news: It appears that no one in the warehouse was injured. Wildberries said via Telegram that everyone who was in the building had been brought to safety.
A similar incident occurred in Berlin in August last year. A major fire broke out in a warehouse there and an immense cloud of smoke billowed over the city. However, only 5,000 square meters were affected.
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