Two Fires Strike Rio in One Day as Blaze Hits Samba-School Warehouse

Overview

• The morning fire in Centro started at 10:34 at a two‑story sobrado on Rua Luís de Camões near the Real Gabinete and a UFRJ building and was controlled in about an hour with no reported injuries.
• Firefighters deployed 40 personnel from six stations with 14 vehicles to the Centro incident, cooled adjacent buildings, and requested a Defesa Civil inspection for possible structural damage.
• Separately, crews were called at 15:49 to a warehouse on Via Binário do Porto in Santo Cristo that houses materials for Unidos de Jacarezinho, Acadêmicos de Vigário Geral, and Inocentes de Belford Roxo, with at least the Inocentes area affected.
• Witnesses reported explosions inside the port‑area warehouses as authorities closed Rua Equador and the Túnel 450, advised alternate routes, and said there was no information on injuries yet.
• Workers at the Santo Cristo site tried to salvage items already being built for Carnival 2026, as the city’s recently announced plan would relocate Série Ouro schools to a new ‘Fábrica do Samba’ facility by 2027 subject to fire‑safety approvals.