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Via Forbes:
A massive fire at one of Russia’s largest shopping centers has killed one person and burned down a formerly German-owned home improvement store in northwest Moscow.
Emergency officials and Russian state media reported early this morning, Russian time, that the fire had broken out before dawn in a former OBI DIY store before dawn and engulfed nearly 200,000 sq ft of the Mega Khimki mall at its peak.
It was eventually contained and brought under control, with videos of the blaze accompanied by powerful explosions inside the German home and garden retailer OBI’s section of the mall widely shared online.
Video of the blaze shared on social media showed explosions at the massive Mega Khimki mall.
“The building’s structural features and a large combustible load complicated efforts to extinguish the fire. The fire spread rapidly over a large area due to the formation of strong convection currents from the collapse of the roof and instant access to oxygen,” Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said in a social media update.