A scary evening for the northern quadrant of the capital. Late yesterday afternoon, Tuesday 19 May, a violent fire broke out in the area under the Salaria bridge, in the Prati Fiscali area, not far from the Salario Center and the State Printing Institute. Within minutes, a giant column of black smoke rose above the city, becoming visible even from very distant neighborhoods.
The first reports arrived just before 9pm. Some makeshift camps along the banks of the Aniene would have caught fire, along with piles of rubbish, abandoned materials and electrical cables. The flames spread rapidly, fueled by the presence of highly flammable objects and perhaps even cylinders or vehicles parked in the area. Residents reported hearing loud explosions, audible even hundreds of meters away.
Unbreathable air and blocked traffic: traffic chaos
Within a very short time the situation became critical. The thick acrid smoke invaded the streets of Conca d’Oro, Piazza Gondar and Montesacro, forcing many residents to close their windows and balconies. Alarm messages have multiplied on social media: some spoke of the smell of burning plastic, some of burning tires and some urged people not to leave the house.
For safety reasons, the section of Via Salaria affected by the fire was immediately closed, along with some neighboring streets of Prati Fiscali. Visibility on the roadway was drastically reduced and traffic went completely haywire, with long queues and mandatory diversions throughout the north-eastern area of the city.
The causes of the fire are being investigated
Several fire brigade teams intervened on site, together with officers from the Local Police of Rome Capital, involved in both firefighting operations and traffic management. The operations proved to be particularly complicated due to the shape of the area and the continuous explosions coming from the heart of the fire.
Fortunately, no one was injured or poisoned, but the entire area remains under observation to avoid new outbreaks. According to initial reconstructions, the fire may have started accidentally from one of the illegal settlements under the bridge, and then quickly spread to the vegetation and improvised landfills along the river. The authorities are now working to clarify precisely the origin of the fire which, for hours, transformed Salaria into a surreal scene.
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