A spectacular fire broke out this afternoon inside the

'Frutas Escobar' fruit and

vegetable center

,

near

Mérida,

specifically at km. 348 of the

Madrid-Lisbon highway.

The fire, which was generated between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., forced the

eviction of nearly 300 workers

who were at the company headquarters at the time, where seasonal fruit was stored -on plastic pallets. , which has expanded very quickly, forming a great column of smoke that has been seen from various locations in the province of

Badajoz.

According to the first calculations, more than

5 million kilos of fruit

could have been

lost

and the origin could have been a short circuit in one of the factory's machines, which is located between Mérida and the neighboring towns of

Calamonte

and

Arroyo de San Serván .

The manager of the fruit and vegetable center,

Natalio Caballero,

explained to

Canal Extremadura Radio

that they initially tried to put out the fire with fire extinguishers by their own means, but it was not possible because it spread very quickly inside the central warehouse of the company: "What is clear is that there will be nothing left, and there were five or six million kilos of fruit inside, which is already all melted."

The danger due to the presence of flammable and combustible liquids has caused the rapid evacuation of workers who were inside the warehouses at that time.

In this sense,

Juan Carlos Bermejo,

head of the Mérida fire station, explained that fire is very dangerous due to the presence of

hydrogen peroxide,

a very harmful chemical compound.

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At the end of this news, a coordination meeting was being held to evaluate the way of working to end the fire. Under the terms, it could still take several hours for you to control it. It has been reported that more than 30 personnel from seven fire stations of the

Badajoz Provincial Council will

work during the night

.

In addition, it has been confirmed that there is no need to regret personal injury or relevant health interventions.

Due to the expectation created in the area, the

112 Emergency Service

has asked the population "great caution" and that citizens do not approach the area of ​​the incident "to let the fire extinguishing media work".

Likewise, the Extremadura Red Cross has reported that, with the arrival of sunset, the aerial means that work in the area are withdrawn and the firefighters of the different parks displaced to the place will continue to work.

The

Junta de Extremadura

activated, at 19.50 hours, the

Extremadura Territorial Civil Protection Plan (Platercaex)

due to risks to the population and the isolated buildings near said fire.

Nine firefighting units from the Badajoz County Council are working right now in the extinction, plus its manager and a guard chief;

in addition to a checkpoint and coordinator of

the Infoex Plan, members

of the

Local Police, Civil Guard

and a Civil Protection technician from the Board.

'Frutas Escobar' is a cooperative society founded in 1993 that is dedicated to the wholesale trade of fruits and vegetables.

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