Warehouse in St. Petersburg catches fire, over 500,000 square feet in flames

A warehouse in St. Petersburg belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, has caught fire, according to Russia’s Emergency Services Ministry.

Initially, the ministry reported that the fire covered an area of 1000 square meters (about 10,800 square feet), but within half an hour, emergency workers said that the fire had spread to an area of 50,000 square meters (about 538,200 square feet).

A message on the Wildberries Telegram channel said that people in the warehouse had been evacuated and that customers and sellers would be compensated for lost goods.

A source told RBC that investigators are considering arson as one possible cause of the fire. RBC noted that on January 10, a mass fight broke out near the warehouse and two migrants, one of whom worked at the warehouse, were injured. In the two days following the incident, police conducted raids at the warehouse.