A violent fire that broke out in the silos of the Agricultural Cooperative of Beja e Brinches is consuming tons of sunflower.
The seeds were stored in that industrial unit, located on the old Estrada de Évora, just a few meters from IP2. Flames flared in the seed dryer, a system that works on gas. There are no victims to grieve.
According to Pedro Barahona, Fire commander of Beja Volunteers, "the alert was given at 05,04 hours and the causes are unknown. The system will have been shut down after the job is finished., but something will have gone wrong”, justified.
The silos of the Agricultural Cooperative of Beja e Brinches are located two hundred meters from the Materials Park of the Beja Chamber and the flames are confined to the dryer, not having spread to reception and storage depots.
With the support of a Magirus ladder, raised to 30 meters high, firefighters pour water into and onto the dryer walls to put out the burning sunflower and cool the walls and prevent it from spreading to other areas. The sunflower that goes out in flames at the bottom of the dryer is removed by an industrial machine to an area adjacent to the unit.
Fighting the flames are 30 operating the Beja Fire, Alvito, Ferreira do Alentejo and Serpa, supported by 10 Car, the Municipal Civil Protection and the GNR, with 3 elements and two vehicles.
In the last three/four years, this is the third time that there has been a fire in that industrial unit, where in addition to material damage, in one recorded injuries to workers or firefighters.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
