88 Million Pounds Of Sugar Catch Fire In Germany

Thursday afternoon a fire broke out in a storage silo in central Germany, and all those carbohydrates make good fuel because the fire was still going strong a day later.

According to The Local, the fire initially broke out in a 90-meter sugar silo belonging to the Nordzucker sugar company at 2:15 in the afternoon on Thursday. The cause of the fire is unknown, but it reportedly began in a compartment at the top of the silo, and it spread to the 40,000 metric tons of sugar inside. As of Friday, it was still burning.

40,000 metric tons is over 88 million pounds of sugar. Nobody was reported to be injured in the fire, but firefighters said the roof of the silo had already collapsed and they were concerned that the silo itself might cave in and spill millions of pounds of molten sugar.

Over 100 firefighters were involved in attempting to put out the sugar fire before that could happen. Thursday and Friday, firefighters were trying to put out the blaze by flying police helicopters over the silo and dumping water into it. Police said the efforts to stop the fire would likely continue "for some time."