PM-designate Najib Mikati comments on the fires at Beirut's port silos

BEIRUT —Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati followed up on the silos in the port of Beirut after the several fires that have occurred in July.

Here’s what we know:

    • “Intersecting reports prepared by the Ministries of Interior, Economy, Public Works and Environment, through monitoring devices, indicated a high risk of falling parts from the northern side of the pits,” Mikati said.

    • Mikati instructed “the concerned bodies to permanently monitor the dumps (of rubble and debris) and not to approach any of the workers or members of the civil defense and the fire brigade from the place (where they put out the fires) in order to preserve their safety and not to endanger their lives.”

    • The concerned ministers stated that “the grains located on the eastern side of the granaries, which were not treated due to the danger of reaching them, are estimated at 300 tons, of which 800 tons have recently started spontaneous combustion as a result of climatic factors, where the grain temperature reaches more than 95 degrees Celsius as a result of fermentation,” adding that, “ this fermentation does not pose any danger to public health.”

    • They also stated that “experts estimate that the fires will be extinguished as soon as the quantity ends, and they warn against using water to extinguish them, which aggravates the situation and increases the fermentation and burning processes.”

    • The Minister of Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, stated in his report that the fire that occurred Thursday was caused by the spread of fire to the electrical cables on the outskirts of the barns, and the Civil Defense and Beirut Fire Brigade members rushed to extinguish it immediately.

    • Lebanon’s ministers voted for the demolition of Beirut’s port silos back in March.

    • On the agenda for Tuesday’s Parliament meeting is a draft law to make the silos a national monument to commemorate the victims of the Aug. 4 explosion, and make it illegal for the silos to be destroyed.