On Tuesday (12), the Fire Department closed 25 de Março and Comendador Abdo Schahin streets, in downtown São Paulo, due to the risk of a commercial building falling on fire.
Captain André Elias, spokesman for the fire department, informed that the corporation’s vehicles are being repositioned along with the command post.
“We have undergone a new assessment and there is a risk of the building collapsing. Therefore, operations will now be discontinued for a new strategy,” Elias said.
None of the burned buildings in SP had the inspection up to date, say firefighters
The Fire Department reported that none of the buildings affected by the fire in the region of Rua 25 de Março, which started this Sunday (10) in the center of the capital of São Paulo, had the Auto de Inspection of the Fire Department (AVCB) up to date. According to the Civil Defense, at least 20 properties in the region were banned.
In an interview with CNN , Captain André Elias explained that “the buildings affected by the fire did not have the AVCB. We have an inspection schedule throughout the city, mainly prioritizing buildings of interest, such as, for example, the 25 de Março region. That job already exists. It was already started before this accident. The buildings are inspected according to the legislation and are also sanctioned by the Fire Department.”
The Public Ministry of São Paulo even asked the Fire Department for documentation of the affected buildings. The MPSP note says that the Capital Housing and Urbanism Prosecutor’s Office intends to investigate whether the affected properties had their documentation up to date and the “existence of a fair inspection process for the buildings.”
The fire started around 9 pm on Sunday and affected four buildings, one of them the Orthodox church built in Brazil in 1904. According to the Fire Department, the risk of collapse is minimal.
According to Claudia Urias, executive director of the União dos Lojistas da 25 de Março and Adjacencies (UNIVINCO), 80% of the stores in the region (about 2,500) were closed this Monday (11) because of the fire on Rua Barão Duprat, in downtown São Paulo.
“Approximately 100 stores were totally destroyed,” said Urias. She also said that other establishments are closed as a precautionary measure in case there is a risk of the building collapsing that caught fire.
UNIVINCO is responsible for 17 commercial streets in the central region of São Paulo.
Source: CNN Brasil
