Huge fire in a Bartolini warehouse in Milan, the municipality: “close the windows and don’t eat fruit and vegetables grown in the area”

A column of thick, dark smoke, visible kilometers away from the Lombardy motorways, enveloped the north of Milan yesterday evening, Wednesday 8 July. The fulcrum of the emergency is the BRT (Bartolini) logistics depot located in via Don Giovanni Minzoni 10, a crucial hub nestled between the Dergano and Bovisa districts, a very short distance from the Polytechnic university center and a student residence.

The flames, which broke out around 7.30pm, quickly attacked around 8 thousand square meters of surface, starting from a single container and then extending to an entire warehouse intended for the storage of packaging and goods being delivered. The intensity of the fire destroyed several parked trucks and trailers positioned on loading ramps.

The intervention of the emergency services

The fire brigade commander, Mauro Caciolai, coordinated a complex containment operation that lasted over twelve hours. To limit the outbreaks and prevent the fire from reaching the adjacent warehouses, the Milan teams were supported by reinforcements from the Monza Command. Despite the extreme severity of the structural damage, fortunately the toll does not record any casualties, injuries or poisoning among staff or residents. This morning the firefighters remain on the site with their tankers to complete the delicate operations of cooling the rubble.

Environmental alarm and health restrictions

The councilor for Civil Protection, Marco Granelli, confirmed the immediate activation of emergency procedures for the protection of public health. Arpa Lombardia technicians have installed high-volume samplers to monitor air quality and detect any impact of pollutants on the soil.

At the disposal of the health authorities, the Municipality of Milan has imposed severe precautionary measures for the surrounding area: the obligation to keep windows strictly closed, the ban on prolonged parking outdoors – with a particular ban on children playing in the areas close to the fire – and the absolute ban on consuming fruit and vegetables harvested in private gardens in the area.

The shadow of fraud and the investigations

In parallel with making the area safe, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation to shed full light on the origin of the disaster. Although the technical findings are complex, police investigators have not ruled out any leads. The investigators’ attention is focused on the hypothesis of a malicious act or sabotage. This line of investigation is being monitored with extreme scrutiny due to the recent and suspicious wave of coordinated attacks targeting logistics supply chains and strategic infrastructure within various European Union countries.

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