In a shocking turn of events, the roof of Rio de Janeiro's landmark Olympic Park velodrome caught on fire in a major incident on Wednesday, April 8. As reported by the New York Post, the huge fire almost completely burnt the roof from the building.
The emergency response was unprecedented - 80 firefighters in 20 vehicles were involved, per local authorities. The Rio state fire department said that they managed to get the fire under control. They also said that the roof was made of fabric, which is how it all srpead so quickly.
Luckily, there were no injuries reported. Tragedy could have also struck in the interior of the building. The velodrome houses the Olympic Museum, a 1,000-item museum containing pieces from the centuries worth of history of the Olympics. But, luckily, according to Rio mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, only a small portion of the museum was affected. And, it can be fixed quite easily.
Cavaliere also added that "the structure of the velodrome itself is preserved and the track has not been hit at all".
The cause of this fire is under investigation, although there may be many reasons that it has happened.
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This Isn't the First Time the Rio Velodrome Has Caught Fire
But it looks like this isn't the first time this has happened. The Rio velodrome has a history of catching fire - specifically on the roof.
As reported by ESPN, a similar fire happened in July 2017, only a year after it was custom-built to host the 2016 Summer Olympics track racing event. And that fire was reportedly caused by a hand-made paper lantern.
The incident caused a large charred area on the roof of the velodrome - but not as bad as the incident on April 8. But, the track was damaged in this incident. A 32-yard portion of special wood track was completely charred.
This was especially unfortunate as in order for the venue to be at an Olympic standard, the wood needed to be imported from Siberia - a far cry from its location in Brazil.
We are very glad that no one was hurt in either fire, though.
