On Thursday, July 20, 2023, residents of Gagnoa, a locality in Côte d’Ivoire, were awakened by the explosion of several gas cylinders in the Delbo 2 neighborhood near the dam.
A fire, the source of which has not yet been determined, completely destroyed two stores used as gas depots. Only the civilian firefighters of Gagnoa, under the direction of Commander Keita El Hadj Yssouf, managed to save the hair salon located near the gas depots.
Upon their arrival at the scene of the fire, they quickly evacuated Bamba Mohamed, one of the owners of the two gas depots, who had attempted to confront the flames to save his property from the fire. Following the evacuation, the civilian firefighters on-site conducted a reconnaissance of the area before engaging in a fierce battle against the fire.
However, the most challenging problem was that the cylinders, which were already heated and were scattered in a limited space within the two depots, were exploding at any moment. In contrast, the walls of the unfortunate building collapsed due to intense heat. At the end of the operation, only one victim suffered severe burns on the arms and abdomen. Two establishments were filled with smoke, and the roof of a nearby hair salon was largely damaged.
Finally, the rescuers requested gas cylinder owners to set up in large spaces with well-arranged shelves to facilitate interventions in case of fire, before recommending increasing awareness of gas fire management techniques in the event of a fire.
