Article Author:
Associated Press
Andrea Rodriguez
Havana — A large oil storage facility in western Cuba. The deadly fire, which has consumed at least half of the country's electricity and threatened to cause more outages to the island's already fragile power system, was largely under control on Wednesday. Nearly five days, according to officials.
The flames that recently consumed his fourth tank of the 8-tank facility at Matanzas were nearly extinguished, but the third tank continued to burn and was surrounded by smoke. There are, officials said.
Colonel Daniel Chavez, deputy commander of Cuba's fire department, said the fire could continue to burn for the next few days, but he did not expect it to spread any further. He said the next step would be to cool the area.
At least one person was killed, 128 injured, 14 firefighters missing and 20 hospitalized in the fire. The fire forced authorities to evacuate more than 4,900 of his people and shut down a major thermal power plant after running out of water, adding to what the government announced last week in Havana. concerns about power outages.
Holly, California, Arturo Lopez-Levy, a professor of political science and international relations at Names College, said the fires complicated an already difficult scenario in Cuba. said it would be
"The realistic projection is that blackouts will increase, making it even more difficult to carry out basic economic activities in the country," he said.
Lopez-Levy also warned that it would be difficult to "lift this country up after this triple tragedy", referring to US sanctions, the pandemic and the current fires.
}Some Cubans fear the fires will cause more rolling blackouts as the government grapples with fuel shortages.
"This provides a better justification for future blackouts," state official Pedro Pozo said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel praised the efforts of local firefighters and special teams from Mexico and Venezuela. He viewed from the capital of Havana.
"(Tuesday) was Victory Day, but don't get carried away," the president tweeted on Wednesday, warning of a possible turn in the wind. ``The danger lurks.''
A fire at the Matanzas supertanker base Friday hit a major infrastructure operating oil pipelines that receive Cuban crude oil to power a thermal power plant. It started when lightning struck. It also serves as an offloading and transshipment center for imported crude oil, fuel oil and diesel.
The government has not provided an estimate of the damage and has not disclosed how much was lost to the main fuel supply overall. It contained ft (25,000 cubic meters) of fuel. The second tank was full.
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