Complex firefighting operations continue after a major blaze broke out around 5 a.m. in a four-story building in the center of Florence on Borgo San Lorenzo. The fire started in a restaurant kitchen before spreading to a neighboring business. Flames then reached the first-floor apartments, which operated as a bed and breakfast.
Eleven people, including three children, were transported to the hospital for checks and are in a condition classified as ‘yellow code,’ indicating moderate severity. Firefighters entered the condominium, which contains B&B apartments from the first floor up, and evacuated all occupants. They rescued two individuals who had become trapped by smoke and flames on the first floor; the pair had lowered themselves using tied-together sheets to reach an internal courtyard.
Operations, hampered by the complex layout of the building, are ongoing. Crews are cooling the areas of the two involved restaurants. Personnel from the fire department’s NBCR (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, and Radiological) unit are on site to inspect the wooden beams supporting the floor between the ground and first levels. Inspections have also been completed on all the flues from the two restaurants, which run from the ground floor to the building’s roof. The two restaurants and the hospitality facilities have been declared unusable.