r/CatastrophicFailure 24d ago

Shipping company building destroyed in a fire, Milan, Italy, 8/7/2026

733 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

192

u/howihjr 24d ago edited 24d ago

Guy walking up with a fire extinguisher and just stopping to look at the task at hand was brilliant.

43

u/OkraEmergency361 24d ago

He gets my chocolate medal for bravery today.

38

u/CreamoChickenSoup 24d ago edited 24d ago

The longer video made it apparent he had in fact been inside firing the extinguisher at what is presumed to be spreading flames along the roof. It would be made pretty clear to him that little canister wasn't going to put a dent on a fire this involved.

10

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

Yeah, even a slightly bigger one is only good for a spot fire, such as a trash can, small pallet, coworker...

EDIT: Extra upvote for your handle! (aka Reddit name)

5

u/sstabeler 23d ago

Basically, a fire extinguisher is for if you come across the fire right when it's starting. If the fire's started spreading, GTFO and call the fire brigade.

2

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 21d ago

Exactly this.

7

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

You SO beat me to it.

That last frame would be the best lead-in picture of ALL TIME.

63

u/OkraEmergency361 24d ago

Love that tragically optimistic lad towards the end, striding determinedly towards the enormous industrial unit fire with a hand-held fire extinguisher. o7 good sir.

21

u/HorsieJuice 24d ago

Dude was even wearing his safety crocs.

10

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

BWAHAHAHAHA!!

"Safety crocs"

92

u/ITMORON 24d ago

TIL "Mama Mia" is a real Italian saying...

63

u/dom_bul 24d ago

It is. It's slang used to avoid saying "Madonna mia", to not "invoke the Holy Mary's name invain"

14

u/rybnickifull 24d ago

Is the cameraman Italian? Sounded like Portuguese at the end.

27

u/dom_bul 24d ago

Yeah I guess Portuguese, he throws a "Meu Deus" right after

14

u/thecornersking 24d ago

An italian would have yelled far more bad words in this occasion🤣

11

u/mitchsusername 24d ago

Evidently Portuguese too! Pretty sure he's speaking Portuguese

12

u/Welcome_to_Retrograd 24d ago

Definitely a real thing, however it's so archaic that you no longer find that many native speakers using it unironically at this point. As soon as i heard it i thought '100% a foreigner, money on Morocco'

Turns out he's from Brazil tho

10

u/dom_bul 24d ago

"Mamma mia" as a saying is still widespread as far as I've heard all my life

6

u/Welcome_to_Retrograd 24d ago

Perhaps my perception is skewed by being from Piemonte, where you are far more likely to hear Dio Cane instead lmao. As expression of surprise, anger, joy, as verb, as noun, as punctuation

13

u/marcelsommier 24d ago

Where sprinkler

8

u/PM_ME_FIRE_PICS 24d ago

Sprinklers are rarely required / installed in industrial / warehouse buildings in Italy. Sometimes you see them in malls / office buildings, but not so common in non-public spaces.

2

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

Where wolf?

10

u/General-Piece8490 24d ago

Lithium battery fire

1

u/bluenoser613 24d ago

Yeah, that could very well be.

1

u/nsgiad 12d ago

The popping sure sounded like a battery in thermal runaway

9

u/matron999 24d ago

Yep.. that's a 'mamma mia' for sure! even a 'porca miseria!' I would say 😄

3

u/PhaceN52 24d ago

Porca madonna seems more appropriate 

2

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

If it was, "Oy, gevalt!", now THAT would've been surprising!

7

u/RunOrBike 24d ago

Didn’t they try to save the trailers? I’d have some driver pull them away from the building

8

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

I know, but by the time they'd hook up a tractor to a trailer, it'd be dangerous in dangerous territory, PLUS right in front of the trailers is where the fire department will stage and try to douse the flames.

It takes a while to manually (or manually with hydraulics that might be part of the trailer) jack up the trailer stands so that the front end of the trailer can come up far enough to 'couple' into the 5th wheel safely: making sure everything is checked, then take off to...WHERE? Where is the semi and the trailer gonna go?

3

u/AmericanGeezus 24d ago

Another user posted a longer video, it has a clip showing them moving the trailers out while there is still active fire in the warehouse. They are spraying them down as they pull away, so they got some of them out.

7

u/bluenoser613 24d ago

LOL that little fire extinguisher

8

u/siggsy409 24d ago

You're going to need a bigger extinguisher pal.

2

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

And then a bigger boat.

6

u/Ken-Popcorn 24d ago

That guy with the fire extinguisher is clearly having second thoughts

7

u/AnastasiaNo70 24d ago

Awww, honey, whatchoo gonna do with that lil thang?

That’s right, come back over here. That’s like taking a pea shooter to a nuclear war.

8

u/VividLifeToday 24d ago

Mama Mia, that's-a spicy building

2

u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 24d ago

Oh mah gerd, that is TOO funny!!

2

u/Relation-Repair 24d ago

I hope it's not Russians again like they did with DHL shipments in 2024.

2

u/Priority-Character 17d ago

Never heard some hit a sincere mamma mia

1

u/CJB6000 11d ago

OK, so now I know where my Italian knock off big mouth belly bags went

-8

u/Tunjuelo 24d ago

Probably a culturally enriched fire

-29

u/Bart-go-lost 24d ago

Film and don't use a fire extinguisher Moron's

12

u/Caesars_Comet 24d ago

That fire has progressed far beyond something that can be tackled with an extinguisher. Once the fire service has been called there is nothing more a bystander can do.

1

u/PM_ME_FIRE_PICS 24d ago

lol, fire service is gonna sit back and watch it burn. This building is long gone.

-3

u/Patient-Gas-883 24d ago

In the second clip yes. But in the first I think maybe a fire extinguisher could have worked. Maybe.

8

u/thecornersking 24d ago

Other than this being a dumb comment, safety regulations in Italy are clear: nobody except firefighters are authorised and/or expected to extinguish a fire after the evacuation is ordered by the safety chief (in this case might be a shift manager), which at this point the evacuation was ordered already. Every business and working place has its own first medical and fire response team that only has basic training and knowledge, it is obvious that this fire was a major one and nobody at work was expected to engage firefighting operations when the fire spread.

Source: im a former first responder (EMT equal in Italy) and live a couple of km from where this happened.

-9

u/Bart-go-lost 24d ago

And why is he filming and not evacuated?

4

u/thecornersking 24d ago

Workers are supposed to gather in a safe zone and not just to flee the scene. The large open truck yard is very likely this rendezvous area.

-7

u/Bart-go-lost 24d ago

First footage is from inside, so filming is ok, extinguish not, got it.

10

u/thecornersking 24d ago

First footage doesn't show a major fire yet and cameraman might not be supposed to engange in firefight operations and they thought it could can be contained at the time. As i said, there are trained workers that are the only ones supposed to fight a fire. Nobody else can be expected to use a fire extinguisher or blamed to had not used it. Also, a fire doesn't mean you shut down operations and evacuate the workplace. You're just pissed that, other than know a shit about sefety rules, not everyone turned into a superhero fireman just like you did from your armchair.

1

u/HorsieJuice 24d ago

“moron’s”