Fire breaks out at Qingdao rubber warehouse

Qingdao, China – A fire broke out at a rubber warehouse in Huajun Logistics Industrial Park in Qingdao, Shandong on 1 December afternoon.

About a third of the warehouse’s 15,000-square-metre floor area caught fire, said an announcement by the local government. The flame was extinguished the next morning and no casualty was reported.

According to a report by China’s rubber news portal STO.net on 2 Dec, the warehouse is used for natural rubber futures settlement, able to store a maximum of 30,000 tonnes of the product, worth up to €51 million (400 million yuan).

The fire was likely caused by drill sparks from maintenance work on the warehouse’s roof, said the government announcement. Responsible personnel, it added, had been detained.