A large number of firefighting teams are still on the ground, and three firefighters were slightly injured, the Ministry of Interior said.
Dragan Miković, the commander of the Fire and Rescue Brigade, said that the fire in the "Enjub" Shopping Center was under control, and that the firefighters prevented it from spreading to the entire building with a quick intervention. According to him, they received a report about the fire at 5:56 a.m., and that 45 firefighters with 14 vehicles were involved in extinguishing it.
"Within four minutes, the first teams were on the spot where they found the fire in a raging stage, which means that the flames have already reached the roof of the building. We still cannot say that the fire is localized, but it has been brought under control. Only one eighth of the shops were affected by the fire, because we prevented the fire from spreading to other shops. There are about 400 shops in total, and about 60 or so - 70 were destroyed by fire," he told reporters in front of the shopping center and added that the most important thing is that there were no injuries or casualties.
The firefighting team is still working on extinguishing the fire, so they will inform the public when it is localized, that is, when they are sure that it will not be able to spread anymore. According to him, the construction of the roof itself makes extinguishing difficult.
"The roof is made of those materials, they are old roofs, so-called sandwich panels. On those roofs, we have to cut sheet metal, to cut boards. There are also materials that were in the premises themselves, so we have a lot of aggravating circumstances when extinguishing the fire," he added.
The fire broke out a little after six o'clock, RTS reporter reported. N1 unofficially learned that several bars and the roof were on fire, and the "Vremena" reporter found many people gathered nearby.
Thick black smoke was visible from several parts of the city.
Like two years ago in block 70
The whole situation is irresistibly reminiscent of the fire in Block 70 that destroyed the building where Chinese goods were sold in 2024. The only thing is that Serbian citizens have shops in Block 45 in Enjub, and many of them also have offices there.
The whole roof was on fire, and the fire was coming out through cracks in the building. Many buildings have already been destroyed. Firefighters from all sides tried to put out the fire and use the escalators to get as close to the flames as possible. Thick black smoke spread through Novi Beograd's Block 45, and citizens en masse wore face masks.
"I'm just a step away from my bar and I can't do anything," says one owner. "Mine hasn't burned yet, just let me take the important documents."
However, the police do not allow anyone to approach the burning building. None of them can estimate the damage and how long it will take to extinguish the fire. In 2024, the China Mall burned for a very long time.
"Is new space being created for new squares?", they asked a question from the "Go for Change" Movement.
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