335: Inside COP: Fire at COP30 and the work still to be done

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Transcript generated by AI. While we aim for accuracy, errors may still occur. Please refer to the episode’s audio for the definitive version

Announcer: [00:00:01] Go out. Go out! There is a fire. Go out! There is a fire.

Bystander: [00:00:11] It was quite scary, the experience, I mean, because the fire started like 100m from the pavilion. And we first heard, like, fireworks, loud sounds. And then we saw the fire and we saw the smoke. The evacuation process, though, was fairly orderly with the UNF, triple C security staff as well as the volunteers pointing people in the direction of the exit. And I really want to thank them, as well as the Brazilian authorities, especially the firemen, for handling the situation in a very timely fashion.

Paul Dickinson: [00:00:45] Hello and welcome to this special episode of Inside Cop. As many of you will already know by now, a fire near the country pavilions forced the closure of one of the main buildings here at the summit. We had planned to bring you a straightforward update on the negotiations as we head into the final days of Cop 30. But given what's happened today, it didn't feel right to carry on as normal. So instead, we want to pause and reflect on the incident itself and how it rippled through the conference and on what it meant for this crucial stage of the process we're now in. Because moments like this can do two things. They can shake a summit off course, or they can sharpen the focus on why we're all here in the first place. So let's begin with what we know. A fire broke out near the country pavilions.

Bystander: [00:01:35] We were in a meeting, and suddenly in the background I see all these people running. Their faces were, of course, worried. So we stood up and we started to follow them, of course. And we didn't know what what was happening. Right. So we started to hear the word fogo, fogo. And we saw also the guards going the other way with extinguishers. And so of course it was a fire. And we went out trying to stay calm because many people were freaking out. So we tried to keep people calm and we got out. Everybody was safe. Yeah, that was about it.

Producer Ben: [00:02:20] So, um, hectic five minutes. I was standing with Paul in the media center in the blue zone. Uh, and I was checking my WhatsApp and got a got a picture from Caitlin, who was just on her way into the blue zone of large plumes of smoke. Yeah, first, people sort of did what journalists do and grabbed what they could and sort of ran towards the story. And then over the course of about 30s a minute, there was a there was a sort of collective understanding that we needed to we needed to move.

Fiona McRaith: [00:03:08] So I'm just left the cop. There was a fire. The whole blue zone is being evacuated. Really? Hope everyone is okay. It's a really terrifying image. Just fire spreading really rapidly. So really hoping everyone's okay.

Paul Dickinson: [00:03:28] Evacuations began very quickly and emergency services were on the scene within minutes and the fire was contained in two hours. Although no serious injuries have been reported. People are being treated for smoke inhalation and shock. So we see we're in the building at the time. Um, how are you doing?

Fiona McRaith: [00:03:49] Yeah.

Fiona McRaith: [00:03:50] Good summary. Paul. We're both safe. We're both home. We've heard that, um, as you just said, people are being treated for smoke inhalation. And it was quite a I think just it's always a jarring event when a lot of people start rushing and kind of the collective awareness takes hold of what's happening and there's sudden action. And it was incredibly orderly, and it felt like this incredible community, like for the first time, you were kind of all together, actually all outside of the venue there. I remain quite shaken, quite impacted by the visuals of it. And I have some friends whose pavilion are completely gone. Thankfully everyone's safe, and another friend who was sitting right, right next to where the fire started and just, you know, yeah, definitely just still quite shaken. And my heart really goes to the presidency and to the secretariat and to the The negotiators and so many folks who have been on the ground for a long time planning for this in the final days of negotiations. So I don't know. That's those are my how I am right now. How are you, Paul?

Paul Dickinson: [00:05:07] You know, I was some distance away. We were part of an orderly group. Lots of people just simply walking out. But it was just very shocking. I suppose that's the point. Tom and Christiana are here. How do we make sense of this moment? And where do we go from here?

Tom Rivett-Carnac: [00:05:21] Well, obviously I'm no longer in Belem. And first of all, delighted that you're both okay as well as everyone else who's there. Like, like so many times when there's an incident somewhere else and you get bits and pieces of information through, there's. I think there was a little bit of anxiety, of course, for a while as like what's really happening. And then it became clear, obviously this is the worst time for a, for a, there's never a good time. But in terms of the cop flow, this is really the critical moment. And for a fire to happen now, when every moment counts, is going to require everybody who's still there. And we're very grateful for speaking to you from home. For those who are there still working to try and find a way to dig deep and get back to it because the work remains unfinished. But Cristiano, I know you've been thinking about this moment and what's required, so maybe I'll pass over to you.

Christiana Figueres: [00:06:10] Yeah. Um. Thanks, Tom. So, as you say, we were obviously first concerned for everyone on the ground there and were grateful to quickly hear that everybody was able to get out in time. It is a frightening thing to be close to a fire, or in fact, even inside a building where everyone is being called to evacuate and where you have hundreds of people, if not thousands of people, getting running down the hall. And so those moments are going to be hard to forget for those who are there. For me, the important part that remains is that no one was hurt, and for that I'm actually truly grateful. I also want to bring attention to the fact that these are extraordinarily large gatherings of people, and it's never simple to host something like this, especially if you're hosting tens of thousands of people in temporary structures that have miles of wiring, water systems, huge tents built in record time. Because, as we know, when we got there, they were still building. And these tents are supposed to resist the both the intense heat in Belgium as well as the torrential downpours. And we know they haven't resisted either. So that temporary type of building always has risks. And of course one could very well and very easily argue that the venue should have been safer in many different respects. But accidents do happen. We have seen water leaks from the beginning. Electrical faults. And now this fire that has very regrettably destroyed several pavilions and forced the negotiations to pause at the most critical time, as Tom says, because negotiations were supposed to finish or are supposed to finish by tomorrow.

Christiana Figueres: [00:08:27] For me, the bottom line is that this fire is a humbling reminder of how challenging it is to host these mega events, and how quickly the unexpected can unfold in front of our eyes. At the same time, I think it's important to invite our listeners to take note of what is also happening, a very different reality that is unfolding after the understandable chaos that ensued in the blue zone. Slowly but surely, there is a quiet but unmistakable sense of solidarity emerging among those who are there. The government is working at double speed to restore the functionality of the venue as soon as possible. People who were there, even those who were close to the fire, are beginning to calm down. Delegations and teams are checking in on each other independently of what their position is on the text that is on the table. Strangers are offering each other help and support. This phenomenon that we're seeing beginning to take effect there in Belgium, reminds me of the very well researched and very known fact that when adversity hits, we humans tend to come together not to destroy each other or to hurt each other, but rather we tend to come together with a shared purpose of support for one another. And we're seeing that already in Berlin, and will likely see more of it in hours to come. The other thing that this has made me think is that, in a very small way, this fire is a tiny microcosm of the very world that we're trying to protect across the planet.

Christiana Figueres: [00:10:28] As we know, even as the cop started. Communities are living through real extreme events storms, floods, fires, infrastructure brought down in an instant. What was just experienced in Belgium, in compressed form, mirrors the larger reality which the cop is gathered to address. Precisely. And in both cases, what matters most is the same the determination to rebuild, to regroup, to carry on together with more resilience and with more solidarity. That is the ultimate purpose of what brought everyone to Berlin. So, as we know, the Cop presidency will inform everyone this evening or into the night about when the negotiations will resume and how they will resume as soon as the building has been swept again for safety and can be repopulated. The work will undoubtedly continue, and what I think deserves most of our respect and gratitude and admiration is that the work will continue on the shoulders of negotiators who will heroically rise to the challenge of the moment on behalf of all of us. Despite their exhaustion from sleepless weeks, many of them have been there already for 3 or 4 weeks. And on top of that, their recent traumatic experience. So here is my wish that they may be able to go back to work with a deeper sense of our shared humanity and with a sharper sense of urgency, which is what all of us should be guided by.

Paul Dickinson: [00:12:27] Thank you Christiana. The cop is still ongoing and we will be back tomorrow with the next episode of Inside Cop. Until then. Bye.