Fire fighters battle warehouse blaze for 21 hours

It took 21 hours for fire fighters to completely extinguish the blaze that gutted a Francis Busuttil & Sons warehouse in Misraħ Sta Venera on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the major fire although several fire fighters had to be treated for burns, heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. The head of the Civil Protection Department, Peter Cordina, said yesterday that, although the fire had been extinguished at about noon, one fire engine was left standing by because there was still a lot of smoke.

In fact, there was so much smoke that the on-site inquiry, scheduled to be held yesterday, was postponed to tomorrow because the experts could still not go inside the building.

Mr Cordina said thousands of gallons of water were used in the operation, which he described as "very tough and very dangerous". A total of 46 fire fighters, including volunteers, took part in the operation on Wednesday and another 30 yesterday.

Mr Cordina said on Wednesday that the operation was a delicate one because of the danger posed by the roof that could collapse at any moment and the nature of the materials inside which included groceries, toiletries and household goods.

Contacted early in the afternoon, Franco Busuttil, one of the owners, said it was still too early to estimate the cost of the damage. He said the company was cleaning up the place and required at least another 24 hours to recover from the fire.