Massive fire sweeps through mall in Moscow suburbs

A fire broke out at a mall in Russia’s Moscow region at around 6:00 am on Friday morning. At least one person was reportedly killed.

According to Interfax, by 8:00 am, the fire had grown to cover an area of 17,000 square meters (roughly 183,000 square feet). Efforts to extinguish the flames were complicated by explosions caused by paint and varnish products in a home improvement store, but first responders managed to contain the fire by 8:25, according to Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry.

Sources from the Russian authorities told RIA Novosti that the fire is being investigated as arson, though another government source told Interfax that other causes, “including technical causes [such as] a short circuit in the power grid,” have not been ruled out.

According to the Emergency Situations Ministry’s regional office, firefighters arrived at the scene 20 minutes after a fire alarm was activated. As the Telegram channel Baza has noted, this is a violation of federal regulations, as firefighters are required to arrive within 10 minutes.

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