Apoera fire service struggles to contain blaze near fuel storage

The Apoera fire department in Suriname faced significant challenges while battling a large fire near a fuel storage facility on Wednesday, October 21. The emergency response was severely hampered by equipment failures, including a non-functional fire truck and a pump that partially failed during the operation.

Due to the lack of a working fire vehicle, personnel had to use a police vehicle to transport a pump to the scene. However, the pump failed after being run at high speeds to compensate for the distance to the fire. As of Wednesday evening, the fire continued to move toward the fuel storage area, leaving firefighters with limited ability to intervene.

This incident follows a similar fire at a diesel storage site on Monday, October 19. During that previous event, authorities prevented flames from reaching two reservoirs with a combined capacity of approximately 70,000 liters. In both instances, the fire department required assistance from the police to transport essential equipment.