A fire reported this Sunday in a house on San Mariano Street, in the Lawton neighborhood, municipality of 10 de Octubre, Havana, raised alarms due to the suspected irregular storage of fuel in the property.
The incident occurred around 2:30 in the afternoon and was documented by the citizen platform NiO Reporting a Crime on Facebook, which spread videos showing a large column of black smoke and orange flames, as well as the presence of at least one fire truck at the scene.
What alarmed the neighbors the most was the testimony captured in one of the videos: a woman claimed that there were 200 liters of gasoline in the house. According to the testimonies received on that platform, the property "was allegedly used to store fuel irregularly, particularly gasoline."
The fire put at risk not only the affected home but also the neighboring houses and the lives of the residents in the area. According to the preliminary information available at the time of the report, no injuries were recorded. The exact causes of the fire and the conditions under which the fuel was stored have not been officially confirmed.
The Municipal Assembly of People's Power of Diez de Octubre confirmed the incident in a brief statement on social media, specifying that the affected house was located on San Mariano street between Buenaventura and San Lázaro. The fire, it noted, affected two homes, without any loss of human life to report.
The NiO profile Reporting a Crime warned that it has been receiving reports about fuel deposits from various localities across the country: "There are homes and other properties that are allegedly being used to store large amounts of gasoline and other fuels connected to distribution and marketing activities, including operations related to small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes)."
The whistleblowers also assert that "the authorities are aware of certain situations and do not take the necessary measures," although these claims have not been independently verified.
The incident occurs just five days after the Cuerpo de Bomberos de Cuba issued a national alert about the dangers of storing fuel in plastic containers, prompted by a fire at the T-22 Workshop of the Azutecnia Company in Manzanillo, Granma, which on October 11 left five injured, one of whom is in critical condition, two in serious condition, and two in stable condition.
This pattern of clandestine domestic fuel storage has spread throughout 2026 as a direct result of the energy crisis. In August, a explosion in a residence in Arroyo Naranjo was also linked to possible irregular fuel storage. On October 4, the Regla Police seized almost 700 liters of gasoline in Havana distributed in 28 containers of 25 liters each. And in February, police operations in Santiago de Cuba intervened in private homes due to an alleged gasoline reselling network.
The rise of these clandestine deposits is partly linked to the authorization granted by the Cuban government in February to small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes) and other non-state entities to import and market fuels, a measure that generated both a formal private supply and a proliferation of informal sales and storage points lacking safety conditions.
Filed under: