Fire briefly spreads through COP30 pavilion in Brazil, prompting evacuation

By AP 21 November 2025, 8:06 am

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BELEM, Brazil — A fire briefly spreads through pavilions being used for UN climate talks in Brazil and prompts evacuations on the next-to-last day of the conference, and officials say 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation.

Organizers say the fire was controlled in about six minutes. Fire officials order the evacuation of the entire site for the conference, known as COP30, and the venue remained closed for about seven hours following the fire.

Attendees trickle back into the COP30 venue after it reopened. Some posed for pictures in the nighttime glow of the signage at the entrance. Others return to rooms further from the pavilions to resume negotiations or to retrieve belongings that had been left behind. Security staff are stationed behind metal barricades to keep people out of the pavilions and a curtain veiled off the area that the blaze had destroyed.