The fire at the popular Poligon bar could have started when a drunken man fired a “flare gun” onto the dance floor, Tass news agency reported. State television showed images of the bar, housed in a one-story logistics center, engulfed in flames. Authorities said the fire started at about 02:00 local time and was extinguished by about 7:30 am. The regional governor, Sergei Sitnikov, said earlier that 13 people had been killed, but emergency services later said the remains of two more people had been found. About 250 people were evacuated from the building when it caught fire. Emergency services reported that the fire had spread to 3,500 square meters. A firefighter told regional state television that it took 50 people to put out the fire and that they used 20 fire trucks. Tass, citing sources in the emergency services, said of the drunken man suspected of causing the fire: “He was spending time in the bar with a woman, he ordered her flowers, with a flare gun in his hands. Then he went to the track and shot it.” On its website, Poligon says it operates as an evening and nighttime “recreation and entertainment venue.” By day, it’s a typical Russian stolovaya – a simple restaurant serving traditional food. He says it’s housed in a “distribution center” and is popular with traffic.
