Fire at Baraccola, the day after red and yellow zones, masks on the face. «Here we seem to have returned to Covid»

ANCONA – «It seems like we have returned to the time of Covid». Red and orange zones, sampling, masks on the nose and mouth to avoid inhaling unbreathable air. Only the swabs are missing from the Mirum Center commercial park. The risk today is not the virus, but the dioxin and fine particles that were probably released into the atmosphere by the fire that devastated the city the other night. DS Smith Recycling. All shopkeepers, however, were able to continue working, albeit with the necessary precautions.

The precautions

«We wear masks because there is a bad smell and when the wind blows in our direction we just can’t stand it», says Giorgio Romagnoli, owner of Pasta Shop. For the whole day yesterday a dense fog enveloped the Mirum Center: it was the fumes from the still active fires and the tons of burnt paper rising from the storage center next door. «We were here early in the morning, we feared the worst – admits the trader -. We work armored, with filtered air, waiting to understand from Arpam if there are harmful substances. No problems with the products, even if there were very few customers. And outside we had to wash the road to remove the soot.”

The fears

Giorgia Ferrucci, owner of Bar Mirum, was a live spectator of the shocking fire. «We were here on Wednesday evening, it seemed like hell-she says. At the beginning we feared that it would spread to us too, we had a bad time. And at 5.30 in the morning we were here again: the air was unbreathable, there were residues of burnt material falling everywhere. Not a good feeling.” Municipality staff distributed maps to traders to outline the yellow and orange areas and explain the precautions to be taken. «But no one came to us – points out Alessandra Rumori, an employee of the Etoile clothing store -. I live in Brecce Bianche, when I saw the flames rising into the sky I feared that my shop was also affected. Clients? Very few. The important thing is that there are no toxic substances in the air.” The concern of everyone at the Mirum Center and surrounding areas is precisely this: having breathed in potentially harmful compounds. Worse are the shops with a view of the factory devoured by the flames, such as the Estro tailoring shop. «Gusts of thick smoke reach us, we had to close doors and windows and equip ourselves with fans – says the owner, Rosalia Staffolani -. There are six of us working here, in the absence of timely communications we cleaned the external pavement with buckets of water. We would have preferred to close, but we can’t afford it because we have deadlines to meet so as not to disappoint our customers. But if it continues like this…”

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