VIDEO: Budapest’s Mini Dubai site on fire, 50+ firefighters were dispatched

The fire raged all night from Monday to Tuesday at the railway station in Rákosrendező (the site of the planned giga investment project informally dubbed Mini Dubai), where sleepers caught fire. More than 50 firefighters with 19 vehicles worked in the area. The flames were contained by 2 AM, but were still being extinguished on Tuesday morning. Now, a video of the operation was published by the Budapest Directorate for Disaster Management.

A huge fire raged at the Rákosrendező railway station, on the site of the planned Mini Dubai project, late Monday evening, at Teleki Blanka Street. Railway sleepers caught fire at the site and the spreading flames also threatened a 32-cubic-metre gas tank. Thankfully, the tank was managed to be towed away by MÁV experts before disaster struck, Világgazdaság reports.

Sleepers and undergrowth on fire in Budapest

The fire at Rákosrendező railway station. PrtSc: YouTube/
Fővárosi katasztrófavédelem_HIVATALOS

“The fire affected a 100-meter-long, 20-meter-wide, 5-meter-high sleeper pile and the surrounding undergrowth,” the Budapest Directorate for Disaster Management said in a statement.

Firefighters from the capital’s professional fire brigades, as well as volunteer firefighters from the fire brigades of Rózsadomb and Zugló, and volunteers from the FOKA River Emergency and Special Rescue Association (Folyami Katasztrófavédelem és Speciális Mentő Egyesület), were able to stop the fire from spreading by 2 o’clock in the morning. The statement also revealed that 19 vehicles and more than 50 firefighters were involved in the extinguishing operation.

Even though the firefighters fought the fire all night, on Tuesday morning, there were still spots where the fire was burning. Fortunately, there were no personal injuries.

The Budapest Directorate for Disaster Management shared a video of the extinguishing operation. The footage shows firefighters working to extinguish the flames. The video, uploaded to YouTube, was edited together from hand-held camera and drone footage:

Fire on the Mini Dubai site

A Telex field correspondent reported that the fire may have started around 10:40 PM. The station was evacuated due to the risk of the overhead line coming down. The area was classified as explosive, the station area was closed and cars were not allowed to cross the nearby railway crossing. In addition to the sleepers, bushes and trees were also set alight.

Mávinform reported that trains were not running at Rákosrendező station as the disaster management had stopped train services due to the fire.

There were significant delays on the Budapest-Vác-Szob, Budapest-Veresegyház-Vác and Budapest-Esztergom lines in the evening. On the Esztergom line, trains ran to Angyalföld and from there back to Esztergom. On the line to Szob, trains only ran to Rákospalota-Újpest and from there to Vác, Szob and Veresegyház, Vác. Rail tickets and passes were accepted on the M3 metro and tram 14 on the section Rákospalota-Újpest-Angyalföld-Lehet Square-Nyugati railway station.

The Rákosrendező fire occurred on the site where the government plans to build the Mini Dubai project.

Read also:

• Giga project: Launch of mini Dubai starts in Budapest
• Luxurious Mini-Dubai in Budapest: Europe’s tallest tower and a shopping mall underway