Two Commercial Fires Strike Rio’s South Zone as Crews Battle Ipanema Blaze

Overview

• Firefighters quickly controlled a blaze at a commercial site in Copacabana with no injuries reported.
• The Copacabana fire started in an exhaust system at Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana and Rainha Elizabeth and sent up a smoke column visible from the beachfront.
• A separate fire tore through a two-story Richards clothing store on Rua Maria Quitéria in Ipanema, with TV Globo’s helicopter showing flames consuming the building.
• The stretch of Maria Quitéria between Visconde de Pirajá and Barão da Torre was closed as crews worked at the scene.
• Neighbors tried to slow the Ipanema flames with a building hose before firefighters arrived, and officials had not confirmed the cause or any casualties.