Almaty's 'Optovka' catches fire

    A fire has broken out at an Almaty market, continuing last year’s series of market fires, Tengrinews reports.
    This time the blaze broke out at the Zhuldyz Wholesale Market, commonly known as the Optovka, located at the crossing of Raimbek and Rozybakiyev streets.
    The fire started at 4:09 p.m. on Monday, February 3. Firefighters arrived 10 minutes later at 4:19 p.m. when several trading and storage quarters of the market were already in flames. The fire engulfed an area of 80 square meters.
    Around 10 containers were badly damaged by the fire.
    Monday is a day-off for most markets in Kazakhstan, including this one. So there weren’t many people at the market that day and there were no injuries reported.
    Market fires are hard to fight, because they are packed with consumer goods of various kinds. Many are made of cotton and synthetic fabrics, plastic and wood, which are all highly combustible and feed the fire. Aisles are always very narrow and cluttered with boxes and trading stands that obstruct the movements of firefighters. Besides, firefighters often have to break into locked containers to get to the fire.
    According to the tentative report on the event, construction work was carried out at the market that day and the builders were using angle grinders to cut metal. The fire started in a nearby office materials shop, and then spread to the neighboring containers, www.tengrinews.kz reports.