![]() The National Museum building burning behind the statue of Emperor Pedro II | |
Native name | Incêndio no Museu Nacional |
---|---|
Date | 2 September 2018 (5 years) |
Time | 23:30 UTC |
Duration | 6 hours |
Location | Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Type | Conflagration |
Cause | Overheating of air conditioning caused by short circuit.[1][2] |
Outcome | Approximately 18.5 million (92.5 %) of the museum's 20 million items were destroyed.[3] |
Deaths | 0 |
Non-fatal injuries | 1, a firefighter suffered burns to his fingers trying to save the skull of Luzia.[4] |
Property damage | Paço de São Cristóvão |
The National Museum of Brazil was heavily damaged by a large fire which began about 19:30 local time (23:30 UTC) on 2 September 2018.[5][6][7] Although some items were saved, it is believed that 92.5% of its archive of 20 million items were destroyed in the fire as around 1.5 million items were stored in a separate building, which were not damaged.[8]
First responders fighting the fire were hindered by a lack of water. Rio's fire chief said that two nearby fire hydrants had insufficient water, leaving firefighters to resort to pumping water from a nearby lake. According to a CEDAE (Rio de Janeiro's Water and Sewerage State Company ) employee, although the hydrants did have water, the water pressure was very low, due to the fact that the building is on top of a hill, making them unusable.[9][10] Brazilian President Michel Temer said that the loss due to the fire was "incalculable."[7]
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