Belem, Brazil — The fire briefly spread in a pavilion used for U.N. climate talks in Brazil, prompting an evacuation on Thursday, the final day of the conference, and authorities said 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
According to organizers, the fire was extinguished in about six minutes. Fire authorities ordered the entire venue to be evacuated for the conference, known as COP30, and the venue remained closed for about seven hours after the fire broke out.
Once the COP30 venue reopened, attendees gradually returned to the venue. Some people took photos under the glow of the sign at the entrance. Some returned to rooms away from the pavilion to resume negotiations or retrieve left-behind belongings. Security personnel were stationed behind metal barricades to prevent people from entering, and the area destroyed by the fire was covered with curtains.
Brazil's Tourism Minister Celso Sabino told reporters at the scene that the fire broke out near the China Pavilion, one of several pavilions set up for events alongside climate change talks. Video footage shows fires breaking out along walls near a number of Africa Pavilions and the Climate Live Entertainment + Culture Pavilion.
Samuel Rubin, one of the directors of the Climate Live pavilion, said the fire quickly spread to neighboring pavilions.
Video showed a huge blaze breaking out in one of the pavilions. A pavilion is a reinforced canvas or fabric structure that usually has three walls and one floor.
Para state governor Helder Barbarulho told local news outlet G1 that the fire may have been caused by a faulty generator or a short circuit inside the booth.
Much of Belem's summit venue was still under construction shortly before the conference began, with exposed beams, open plywood floors, and metal mesh hallways leading nowhere outside the convention center. At pre-summit events, the sounds of drilling and rock drilling could be heard as world leaders spoke and throngs of hard-hatted workers ran around an unfinished plastic-covered pavilion.
Gabi Andrade, a COP30 volunteer from host city Belem, said she has been working on accreditation at the conference for the past three weeks. Thursday was her first free afternoon and she had just finished her lunch break and was exploring the Singapore Pavilion when the fire broke out.
She said she saw black smoke. “There's a fire,” she cried, as a security guard grabbed her hand and led her to the exit.
Under the shock of the situation, she worried about what this would mean for the reputation of the Brazilians hosting the talks. “It's very sad for us,” she said. “We all worked hard.”
___
Associated Press writer Gabriela Sa Pessoa contributed from Sao Paulo.
___
Associated Press climate and environment reporting receives funding from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Learn about AP's standards for working with philanthropy, a list of supporters, and funded areas at AP.org.
___
This article was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship hosted by Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.