Fire in Gldani
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, July 31
The Gulf petrol station caught fire on July 30. According to the witness and emergency service, a serious disaster was avoided as it might have claimed half of Gldani District. Nearly 12 cars were burned due to the accident, one individual was injured. He was a Gulf Petrol Station employee, his current condition, according to doctors, is stable.
Almost all the emergency and fire brigades of Tbilisi were mobilized to put out the fire. The heart of the fire was put out in half an hour.
An eye witness said the fire was very strong and explosions were heard. Several fire brigades and emergency services were at the scene immediately, but were unable to extinguish the blaze, the witness stressed.
A media spokesperson from Gulf, Nino Jibladze, said the fire initially broke out involving a fuel transporter truck and then spread to the station.
According to the Emergency Service Chief Temur Giorgadze, the fire was near the oil reservoirs. He said that an auto garage and petrol station were under fire and that about 12 cars were burned.
“We avoided the greatest danger. There were about 40 cisterns full of oil. Their explosion would have seriously hurt the Gldani district population. One person was slightly hurt, Temur Giorgadze said, stressing that he has not seen such a large-scale fire in the capital.
Almost all the nearby shops were burnt, including their cars and consumer’s cars as well.
“It was a disaster, we have lost properties, someone should assist us in refunding our loss,” One of the shop keepers Nukri Kokonishvili said.
Fellow shop owner Davit Karabulashvili said that at least 5 shops were burnt, with expensive car spare parts in some of them.
The company is planning to make a special statement over the accident in the near future. An investigation has already been launched.
