Rostov Region residents of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and its surroundings were awakened on the night of August 29 by a powerful explosion at an oil depot that had been burning for more than 12 hours. People said that they heard a powerful rumble and saw a flash. It was so bright that for a few seconds it became as bright as daylight, Rostovskaya Gazeta wrote.
Local residents reported that the fire intensified after the explosion. There was probably depressurization of fuel tanks, but there is no official confirmation of this information.
At the same time, the fire glow was visible to residents of the neighboring Belaya Kalitva district.
Recall that on the night of August 28, four drones attacked the Rostov region, the wreckage of two of them fell on the territory of an oil depot near Kamenskoye-Shakhtinsky, provoking a fire at the fuel depots. This was reported to be the Atlas State Reservoir base. Smoke from the heavy fire spread to 30 km.
As Bloknot Rostov reported, its film crew arrived at the Atlas plant, but the road to the enterprise was blocked by police officers. The journalists were not allowed in, saying, “This is a strategic facility, no one will give you permission. We will call a patrol”.
As the media wrote, Atlas began to work as a storage facility for petroleum products in 1963. In the spring of 2019, the underground tanks were replaced by an above-ground complex. In 2020, joint exercises of the State Reservoir and the Russian Ministry of Defense were held here: the transfer of petroleum products for army needs was practiced. At the moment it is known that the fire engulfed several tanks, and in extinguishing took part in two fire trains. The press service of Governor Vasilii Golubev reports that there are no casualties.
It should be noted that Atlas is already the second fuel depot of the State Reservoir burning in the Rostov region, where the supply of the Russian military fighting in Ukraine is concentrated. The fire at the oil depot in Proletarsk, which houses about 70 fuel tanks, has been burning for 11 days. It is gradually stabilizing, but the fire has not yet been completely extinguished. According to the latest data, the smoke from the fire, which previously spread over a considerable distance, has now reduced and is visible at a distance of about 30 kilometers from the site, Avia.Pro wrote. Despite the long efforts of rescuers and firefighters, the fire cannot be extinguished, posing a threat to the environment and the health of residents of nearby settlements.
In the first days of the fire, a thick plume of smoke covered large areas, but in recent days its spread has been limited. At the moment the amount of damage caused has not been announced, but we are talking about multi-billion dollars.
