A massive fire broke out in the Z Center shopping mall in Kalansuwa, central Israel, on Saturday, causing the second floor of the building to collapse, and the remainder to be intentionally destroyed by fire and rescue crews in an attempt to prevent the fire from spreading further.
The fire broke out early on Saturday afternoon, and an initial assessment has revealed that the fire broke out during maintenance work which was being carried out on the second floor, Army Radio reported.
A mass evacuation of shoppers was carried out by Israel Police officers and Israel Fire and Rescue Services amid ongoing efforts to extinguish the fire, and seven people, including one police officer, were lightly injured.
שריפה פרצה במתחם קניות בקלנסווה, צוותי הכיבוי מתקשים להגיע למקום בשל העומס שנוצר עם פינוי המבקרים pic.twitter.com/n9U7RZ9di4
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) October 16, 2021
The top floor of the building collapsed after an hour, leading to fears that the ground floor would follow suit, and as a result, firefighters showed caution and only focused on extinguishing the external flames.
However, they subsequently destroyed the entire structure, in an attempt to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading further towards gas canisters stored on the first floor.
A total of 25 firefighting teams and three fire cranes worked on the scene to extinguish the fire, and gained control over it shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.