From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Essay by Eric Worrall

“… One eyewitness told the BBC that he believes an electrical fire was the cause. …”

COP30 climate talks evacuated after fire breaks out

Georgina Rannard and BBC climate team in Belém, Brazil

…

The talks were in the final hours of trying to agree on next steps to tackle climate but the fire has disrupted negotiations.

“It was climbing the walls and onto the ceiling. People were screaming,” Dr Harshita Umesh, who was giving a talk next to the place where they fire broke out, told BBC News.

“Then I ran, I think I tripped and fell.”

…

“People are pretty traumatised and shocked,” she added.

“There’s a huge panic, people have been running out of here, it’s a very dramatic moment… UN security guards are telling us to leave,” said BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt.

“It looks actually as if they are beginning to get it under control but you can see huge columns of smoke rising up into the air through the hole that’s been burnt in the top of the conference centre.”

…

One eyewitness told the BBC that he believes an electrical fire was the cause.

…Read more (includes video): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9d9p5jrjgo

The article doesn’t say it was a battery fire, but from the video in the BBC article above, it was a pretty impressive blaze for a simple electrical fault. Of course the intensity of the fire might have been caused by all the disposable single use petroleum based plastic used to construct the climate conference pavilion.

The UN seems determined the conference will continue, but with the conference almost at its end, no significant leaders in town, and many conference center evacuees likely relocating to the nearest wine bar to calm their nerves, there is a good chance a lot of people will pack up and go home early.