Brazil’s Samba City goes up in flames

Firefighters work to put out a fire at warehouses in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A massive fire consumed the warehouses where Rio de Janeiro's samba groups store the props and costumes for Brazil's largest Carnival parade. No injured were reported. Photo: Reuters
Firefighters work to put out a fire at warehouses in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A massive fire consumed the warehouses where Rio de Janeiro's samba groups store the props and costumes for Brazil's largest Carnival parade. No injured were reported. Photo: Reuters
A firefighter works to put out a fire at warehouses in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A massive fire consumed the warehouses where Rio de Janeiro's samba groups store the props and costumes for Brazil's largest Carnival parade. No injured were reported. Photo: AP
Members of Grande Rio samba school cry as a fire rages through warehouses of samba schools, where floats, costumes and props of the Rio Carnival are made and kept, in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro. The fire, which swept through the center of Carnival preparations in Rio de Janeiro, destroyed hundreds of costumes and floats less than a month ahead of Brazil's annual festival of hedonism. Photo: Reuters
Firefighters work to put out a fire at warehouses in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A massive fire consumed the warehouses where Rio de Janeiro's samba groups store the props and costumes for Brazil's largest Carnival parade. No injured were reported. Photo: Reuters
An aerial view from a helicopter shows smoke billowing from a fire raging through samba schools, where floats, costumes and props of the Rio Carnival are made and kept, in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro. The fire, which swept through the centre of Carnival preparations in Rio de Janeiro, destroyed hundreds of costumes and floats less than a month ahead of Brazil's annual festival of hedonism. Photo: Reuters
People watch as smoke billows from a fire raging through warehouses of a samba school, where floats, costumes and props of the Rio Carnival are made and kept in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro. A massive fire consumed the warehouses where Rio de Janeiro's samba groups store the props and costumes for Brazil's largest Carnival parade. No injured were reported. Photo: Reuters

Published Feb 7, 2011

A large fire has destroyed Samba City, a part of Rio de Janeiro where costumes and floats for the city's famed carnival are being made. The disaster occurred just about a month before this year's carnival was set to begin. A large plume of smoke was seen over the Sambadrome where the annual carnival parade takes place.

According to the report, the fire erupted well before shop employees were due at work, and no victims have been reported so far.