Terrifying mushroom cloud looms over Budapest: firefighters battle fiercely – photos

A massive inferno has engulfed around 150 cubic metres of rubbish across a vast area at a waste processing plant on Ócsai Street in Budapest’s Soroksár (23rd) district. Firefighters have tackled the open flames on the rubbish pile’s outer edges, the disaster protection authority announced on its website on Friday.

Massive inferno in Budapest

They reported that crews deployed two ladder-mounted cannons, two fixed water cannons, two hose-mounted water cannons, and six water jets to extinguish the flames along the pile’s perimeter on Ócsai Street in Soroksár, the capital’s 23rd district.

Volunteers rushed in from Zugló, South Pest, Rózsadomb, and Fót to join the capital’s professional units. Under the direction of the disaster protection operations service and command staff, they’re locked in a relentless fight to smother the blaze, as per the Hungarian News Agency.

Check out some more photos below:

And a video:

Work not done yet

Six pieces of heavy machinery tore apart the towering rubbish heaps, while powerful jets shielded the nearby warehouse from the roaring heat.

Crews are bracing for a gruelling slog that could drag on for hours yet.

From the city centre, you could see a mushroom-cloud–like plume over Soroksár this afternoon:

If you missed it:

• Eyewitness claims piece from Hungarian airliner fell over Budapest residential district
• Mystery of missing 18-year-old in central Budapest is resolved — but in the worst possible way