Firefighters are responding to a pulp mill in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, where a 20,000-square-meter hall has been engulfed in flames

A major fire broke out Monday at a pulp factory in the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Mehedinți County. An approximately 20,000-square-meter hall, where paper waste was stored, was engulfed in flames.

According to the Mehedinți County Emergency Situations Inspectorate, the fire has spread throughout the hall. Firefighters are working to contain and extinguish the blaze, as well as to limit the risk of it spreading to other areas of the factory.

Crews from several counties and from Bucharest-Ilfov have been mobilized to manage the situation. The Mehedinți County Emergency Situations Inspectorate is responding with six firefighting vehicles, an aerial ladder truck, a truck and a SMURD ambulance. Firefighting vehicles from the emergency situations inspectorates in Dolj, Caraș-Severin and Gorj have also been sent to assist. The Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Situations Inspectorate is participating with a vehicle equipped with robots.

The large amount of smoke generated by the fire prompted authorities to send a RO-ALERT message to inform and warn the population in the affected area. Firefighters’ intervention is ongoing, while the cause of the fire is yet to be established.