Belém, Brazil – A fire erupted Friday evening within the “blue zone” of the COP30 climate summit, prompting a partial evacuation of the conference venue as international negotiations over critical climate goals, including fossil fuel reduction, were underway[[1]].brazilian officials reported the blaze was quickly contained with no injuries, though the incident caused critically important disruption to the final hours of scheduled discussions[[2]]. The affected area, housing key negotiation spaces, was temporarily closed while authorities assess the damage and ensure the safety of delegates and staff.
Parts of the building hosting the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, were evacuated around 6 p.m. local time on Friday due to a fire, according to reports.
Brazilian Tourism Minister Celso Sabino stated that the fire was quickly brought under control and no injuries were reported.
The blaze broke out in the “blue zone,” where negotiations were underway at the United Nations climate conference, including discussions on phasing out fossil fuels. The incident briefly disrupted critical end-of-conference discussions as world leaders attempt to forge new commitments to combat climate change.
“There was panic, suddenly everyone stood up, grabbed their things and ran out,” said a reporter on the scene, who was approximately 500 meters from the location when the fire started.
Swedish EU Parliament member Jessica Polfjärd (M) was among those who evacuated the building. “It was supposed to be an electrical fault, but it looked like it was burning quite badly,” she told news agencies.
Jeanne Richard from Radio France International was inside the building when the fire erupted. She described hearing whistles from security personnel and people beginning to run.
“When I turned around, I saw huge flames. The entire tent above us was on fire, really big flames. It was quite scary and we had to evacuate,” Richard said.
Saikat Das, 32, a youth coordinator for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from Edinburgh, Scotland, was in a nearby pavilion.
“The smoke quickly became unbearable, it became very dark. And the sky turned completely dark. When we went out the back, everything was closed. People were screaming and so scared,” Das reported.
Organizers announced that the building would remain closed until 8 p.m. local time, which is midnight in Sweden.
