Over 170,000 people are freezing in their apartments in the city of Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Russian internal republic of Buryatia after a combined heat and power station was destroyed by fire on Saturday. Local authorities have canceled classes in schools and closed all kindergartens as crews work around the clock to restore the heating as outdoor temperature in the city plunged to - 20 degrees Celsius.

According to RIA Novosti, local firefighters received a report about a fire at the Heating and Electricity Station No. 1 at 7:25 p.m. local time on Saturday. The local directorate of the Emergencies Ministry dispatched 12 fire engines to the site of the disaster and later sent four more engines as the fire continued to rage out of control.

Experts said that the most likely reason of the fire was a short circuit in the electrical mains. Fighting it proved complicated as flames quickly spread to oil tanks containing over 18 tons of oil. Moreover, the fire led to the explosion of hydrogen that was used at the station as a cooling agent, which caused about 1,200 square meters of roof to collapse. The fire was put out only three hours later.

The station was launched in 1936 and it produced about 130 megawatts of power. The station underwent some repairs in 2004 when new boilers were installed, but Ulan-Ude authorities were considering a development plan to demolish the station and switch to other energy facilities, primarily for ecological reasons.

Despite severe damage, some of the station's facilities continued to operate. It was especially important that the pumps continued to circulate the water in the heating lines, preventing the pipes from freezing and bursting.

The station provides heating to three districts of the city with population of about 170,000 people. On Sunday morning the temperature in many apartments fell to 15 degrees Celsius, as the outside temperature hovered at around -20 degrees. The mayor's office has said that Ulan-Ude residents could consider themselves lucky - in February the temperature in the city can fall to - 30 or even -35 degrees.

A headquarters for dealing with the situation has been established, and the president of Buryatia, Vyacheslav Nagovitsin, is personally overseeing the situation. Specialists managed to launch four boilers in the damaged station and an additional boiler was brought online at Station No. 2, which was switched to supply the districts deprived of heating. Once the additional boilers started to work the temperature in homes started to rise. 

Authorities also stopped several tram lines in the city to give more electricity to city residents who had to use electrical heaters to keep their apartments warm.

On Wednesday the authorities announced that the schools and kindergartens would open again on Thursday, but repair works to restore heating in apartment blocks will continue.

By Kirill Bessonov