Fire in Alania Mall: what is known
A large fire broke out in the Alania Mall shopping center in Vladikavkaz. The flames engulfed 900 square meters of the building. Preliminarily, one person died and several others were injured. At the moment the fire has been eliminated, the causes of the incident are being established. Read more about what happened - in the material "Izvestia".
What happened
December 25, eyewitnesses began to report in social networks about the fire in the shopping center "Alania Mall" in Vladikavkaz on Moskovskoe highway. Firefighters, rescuers and medics promptly arrived on the scene. The third floor and the roof of the building caught fire, the Emergencies Ministry said. The area of the fire is about 800-900 square meters. m.
Later, the head of the region Sergey Menyailo said that the explosion and fire in the shopping center were caused by falling debris of a downed UAV: the drone was shot down by air defense means at 8:28 am today. RC surveillance cameras show that the explosion came from outside. Explosive technicians are looking for fragments of the UAV, the head of the region specified.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the UAV attack was made on a number of regions of the North Caucasus Federal District.
According to preliminary data, one person was killed, a woman, two to eight others were injured. The head of North Ossetia-Alania, Sergei Menyailo, left for the scene. "The deceased at the time of the incident was inside. The condition of another victim is being clarified. He was taken away by medics," he said. According to him, firefighters localize the fire, but there is heavy smoke in the building. Now the rescuers are examining the premises, looking for hotbeds of fire and people who could stay in the shopping center. A column of thick smoke has risen above the building.
At 9:45 Moscow time, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that firefighters have eliminated open burning in the shopping center. At 10:45 the fire was completely extinguished.
Possible causes of the fire
Near the shopping center deployed operational headquarters, law enforcement and rescue services are working, said Menyailo. In addition, Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic Nikolai Klepov arrived at the scene of the emergency. The prosecutor's office will control the progress of establishing the circumstances of the fire.
The causes of the fire are being investigated. The head of the republic denied rumors about explosions in the area of the TV tower. A version of a domestic gas leak is being considered. "According to preliminary data, there was a slamming of a gas-air mixture", - said in the republican Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Forensic experts have left for the site. They will proceed to the examination of the building after the fire is completely eliminated.
However, the chief engineer of the gas service for Vladikavkaz told Izvestia that the building of the shopping center "Alania Mall" is not gasified. "The cause of the incident could not have been a domestic gas explosion," he noted. According to Batraz Kodzaev, the nearest source of gas is a boiler house 300 meters away from the building. The expert noted that probably a cylinder with some kind of gas could have exploded.
The latest major fires
Two more fires have occurred in the south of the country in recent weeks. On December 20, a restaurant complex in Volgograd caught fire. Forty-eight specialists and 16 units of equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire. The fire was completely extinguished the same day. On December 14, a bakery in the center of Makhachkala burst into flames, the area of fire was about 80 sq. m. There were no casualties.
Fire at a building materials warehouse in Barnaul, December 12, 2024
In addition, on December 12, a fire broke out at a warehouse of building materials in Barnaul in Altai Krai. 80 employees and 23 units of equipment, including two fire trains, were involved in extinguishing the fire. There was a partial collapse of the roof, the area of fire amounted to 3 thousand square meters. m. Later the open burning was liquidated. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, there were no exceedances of the maximum permissible concentration of pollutants.
