Huge fire engulfs Russian shopping mall Mega Khimki near Moscow

[Wicked Blue]

Source: BBC

A huge fire has ripped through a major shopping complex on the edge of Moscow killing at least one person, Russia's Emergencies Ministry has said.

Video of the blaze showed explosions at the massive Mega Khimki mall.

Arson is being investigated as a possible cause of the fire, but an electrical fault is thought to be a more likely trigger.

The centre had housed major Western retail outlets, until they pulled out after February's invasion of Ukraine.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63914682

[2naSalit]

1. Aww...

Gee, that's too bad.

[Polybius]

10. It's a mall (and not a Russian government building)

Hopefully the innocent workers and shoppers (who have nothing to do with Putin) got out unharmed.

[getagrip_already]

2. I can understand fire......

Especially in a country with rampant corruption and no enforced building codes.

But what I don't get is the explosions. What kind of mall has enough chemicals stored to go badaboom, HUGE badaboom?

Even hardware stores don't typically have huge explosions during a major fire. Small ones as propane cylinders or aerosol cans cook off, but not explosions that large.

It's almost as though they were bulk storing gases like propane or hydrogen on site.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. The article says that those explosions were likely caused by

exploding aerosols and paint tins.

[zipplewrath]

5. Transfomers

I would have guessed transformers. They cause quite a spectacle when they go.

[Mosby]

7. That's a good guess.

No way it's aerosols. Latex paint isn't even flammable.

[StormKing]

16. Damn Decepticons! N/t

[Mosby]

6. Not very plausible

I don't think a 5 gallon propane cylinder would cause that large of explosion. Had to be something bigger. Maybe a pallet of fertilizer.

[getagrip_already]

11. I was thinking of the bulk storage tnks like you see at suburban propane....

But that doesn't explain 4 or 5 large explosions in a chain. They would cook off randomly, not in a tight series.

It was almost like it was a timed set of explosions.

[Wicked Blue]

4. I suspect drones

It's about time the russkys faced a taste of their own violence.

[Igel]

13. That would be bad.

Targeting civilians and civilian buildings while complaining that Russia's targeting of civilians and civilian buildings is a war crime rankles.

They've hit military targets. Let's keep it that way, at least for now. Why head for the moral sewer? Leave that to the Putingators.

[jmowreader]

15. Propane is now being used as AC refrigerant

It’s an environmental thing - propane has no global warming potential. So, it’s going into a lot of AC systems and refrigerators.

If every shop in the mall has its own AC system, and the corridors have them, an each one contains a few pounds of propane…

[Mr. Sparkle]

8. My guess is that it was an insurance job by the owners

The economy is shrinking fast over in Russia.

[Otto_Harper]

12. I agree. And, I don't think they knew how to start a tornado (NT)

[Warpy]

14. That would be my buess

Lots of empty retail space and lots of stores with lots of stuff no one can afford to buy since they know they are going to be back to the bad old days of lining up around the block to buy toilet paper.

Traffic is up pre Xmas, but still no full shopping bags in evidence.

[republianmushroom]

9. Damn, when it rains it pours. Poor little Putin (heh heh)