Avellino fire: flames tamed, but fear for the cloud

Fears erupted in Avellino following a fire at a factory producing plastic components for car batteries. After nearly seven hours, firefighters successfully extinguished the flames that broke out at 1:30 PM at the ICS plant in Pianodardine, in the industrial area of ​​the Campania capital. No injuries were reported, except for one firefighter who suffered a slight illness due to stress, but recovered after being rescued. The thick black cloud released by the blaze raised alarm in the city and the surrounding area, prompting the prefect, Maria Tirone, to declare a state of emergency and ask residents to close doors and windows and limit their movements. As a precaution, three families living in the area and employees of companies near ICS were evacuated. Mayor Gianluca Festa and other colleagues in the area ordered the closure of schools and outdoor markets for Saturday. Inspections of the structural integrity of the burned warehouses have also begun. Only tomorrow will the air pollution levels recorded by the mobile monitoring stations installed by ARPAC, which will be monitored for 48 hours, be known. The fire was extinguished thanks to the intervention of about a hundred firefighters, including those from Naples, Salerno, and Benevento, who responded with water tankers and ladder trucks to pump water onto the roof of the plant. Environment Minister Sergio Costa is closely monitoring the fire at a factory located in the Avellino industrial area. In constant contact with the Prefecture, ISPRA, and Undersecretary of the Interior Carlo Sibilia, Minister Costa is working to monitor the smoke and safeguard the health of citizens. At this very moment, Minister Costa activated the ministry's offices to investigate the fire that broke out this afternoon in Ercolano, in the province of Naples, near the former Fiengo quarry on Via Castelluccio, within the Vesuvius National Park. The fire appears to have been set on some brushwood near the quarry, which had been filled with waste, including toxic waste, years ago and was therefore seized.