At 8:50 pm on Tuesday, the Beirut Fire Brigade received a call about a fire raging in a house in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jdideh neighborhood.
According to local media, the homeowner was engulfed in fire when he tried to light charcoal… on the same balcony where he stored gallons of gasoline.
As gas stations across the country remain closed, gasoline is in short supply in Lebanon. Many have been stockpiling gallons of gasoline in panic.
To the home owner’s luck, the fire brigade was able to rescue him and his mother, who was also in the house. He escaped the fire with minor burns and was transported to the fire station to receive the necessary treatment.
The firefighters were able to control the fire and prevent it from spreading through the house, eventually extinguishing it.
This is not the first of dangerous accidents caused by poorly stored fuel. In October last year, the Governor of Beirut Marwan Abboud banned the storage of gasoline in buildings to prevent explosions and fires that were recurrent.
Tariq al-Jdideh had witnessed a deadly explosion last year from a diesel tank stored inside a bakery, killing 4 people and injuring around 50 people.
