Month After Explosion In Beirut, Another Fire Breaks Out At Port

There has been another massive fire outbreak in the Port of Beirut, Lebanon, month after an huge explosion rocked the Middle East country claiming over 200 people.

Lebanese Army said the blaze which occurred on Thursday erupted at a warehouse storing oils and tyres in the port’s Duty Free area.

A security source told Al Jazeera that the fire broke out in a storage area used by BCC Logistics. The source added that the fire was outside the “red zone” central to the blast investigation, in an area of the port that has since resumed operations.

It is still unclear the cause of the fire but fire incident responders and emergency crew were already at the scene of the inferno to extinguish the fire and attend to casualties.

At the time of the fire breaking out, work was being done to remove goods stored in damaged warehouses and reconstruction work was also underway, the source added.

Lieutenant Michel Murr, who oversees firefighting efforts in Beirut, told Al Jazeera he could not entirely rule out the presence of explosive material in the area, but said it was unlikely.

“We’re being as careful as we can be given the situation,” Murr added, noting that there were no injuries resulting from the fire.

He said they were working to “contain” the fire but had not yet been able to control it as of 2:30pm (11:30 GMT). Army helicopters were brought in to assist in the efforts.

Beirut has faced series of fire outbreaks recently since the enormous explosion that occurred on August 4, caused by the explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at the port.

A smaller fire had caught at Beirut’s port on Tuesday, leading many to panic, though it was extinguished soon afterwards.

Just a few days before that, the army said it had found 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at Beirut’s port. It says it has since destroyed the explosive material.

An army source said security forces were in the process of undertaking a complete survey of the entire port area, but could not say how much had been completed and when the survey would be done.