(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- On Tuesday, a fire broke out in a plastics plant near Siberia’s largest city, prompting more suspicion that Ukraine may be targeting vital Russian infrastructure in response to the invasion.
The fire engulfed about 22,000 square feet of the industrial building in Berdsk, not far from the city of Novosibirsk in Siberia. According to the regional department of Russia’s emergency ministry, the blaze began on the first floor of the building when polyethylene products used in the manufacture of plastics caught fire.
Emergency responders arrived within ten minutes and after they discovered the extent of the fire, additional responders were called in to help battle the blaze.
According to the ministry, six people were evacuated, but no injuries were reported. Firefighters had to deploy high-rise equipment after the fire tore through the building’s roof. Meanwhile, firefighters fought to prevent the fire from spreading to a neighboring warehouse containing highly combustible building materials.
After about two hours, the fire was extinguished, but not before the roof was destroyed and the equipment inside the building badly damaged.
The fire appears to have destroyed the production facilities, along with a canteen and offices. There are no reported fatalities.
Since the war began in Ukraine, there have been over a dozen structural fires reported in Russia, with the incidents increasing over the last few weeks.
Last week, one person was killed and another seven injured in an explosion in a gunpowder warehouse in the far eastern region of Khabarovsk.
Earlier this month, a railway tanker carrying unspecified solvents caught fire in the industrial zone of Dzerzhinsk.
Fires are especially common in Siberia during the spring and summer months. Last year saw record-breaking wildfires in the taiga forests of Siberia and the far east after the region was hit with extreme heat and drought.
