A Regular Event In The Russian Military

ANOTHER RUSSIAN AMMUNITION AND ARMAMENTS storage depot has gone up in flames and explosions.

Fire broke out early Friday morning in the Udmurtia arsenal in the Volga region and has been raging all day and night through the large military arsenal.  The fire took hold quickly after a massive explosion started the inferno.  The blast woke people from their sleep for miles around and sent them out into the streets in fear after their houses shook and windows were blown out.  There have been at least 28 people in the surrounding area who were injured and two elderly people died from heart attacks believed to have been brought on by the stress of the explosions.

NTV

The arsenal's primary activity is the storage of 10,000 tons of artillery shells and rocket-propelled missiles, most of them outdated and scheduled for destruction.  A defense ministry official said that as the fire is burning there are explosions at the rate of two or three every minute.  The fire and security officials say that it will take at least two days to get the fire extinguished.  More than 800 firefighters are on the scene along with aerial water bombers and several robotic fire engines.

The AFP reports:

"A total of more than 28,000 people have been evacuated," the regional emergency ministry said in a statement.

The residents of the neighbouring town of Argyz of around 19,000 people and the nearby village of Pugachyovo were evacuated in buses to nearby villages at a radius of 30 to 60 kilometres, officials said.

"According to a report from the scene at 6.30pm Moscow time (12.30pm AEST), there were no casualties as a result of the fire and exploding shells among the military personnel," the ministry said in a statement.

The depot contained rockets but they are safely stored and have not exploded, deputy defence minister Dmitry Bulgakov told the RIA Novosti news agency from the scene.

"The rockets did not explode. They are in a concrete shelter up to 70cm (28 inches) thick," Bulgakov told the agency. The ministry had said earlier that the depot contained only "classic artillery shells".

A source in law enforcement told the Interfax news agency the rockets were stored without their warheads, making them less dangerous.

The depot, which housed old ammunition that was due to be decommissioned, contained explosives equivalent to 58 tonnes of TNT, Russian television reported.

This video report from Russia Today contains some remarkable video footage of the continual explosions that occurred for hours and the massive fireground involved:

The official reports say that 106 of the depot's 152 buildings have been destroyed.  All of the firefighting efforts are directed to containing the fire within the arsenal complex.  The aerial water bombers are concentrating on preventing the surrounding forest land from catching on fire.

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