Irish officials and Minister for Climate Darragh O’Brien were among thousands of people who had to flee the Cop30 climate talks in Brazil after a fire broke out at the venue.
The fire started in a “country pavilion” – one of the scores of stands erected for countries to host side events and showcase their climate action efforts.
It quickly spread to the roof of the temporary structure that houses the main negotiations taking place in the host city of Belém.
Mr O’Brien and his team of 26 were in the Irish delegation office about 50m away when the incident happened around 5pm Irish time.
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“It was serious enough. It started really, really quickly and you could smell the smoke,” he said from outside the structure.
“Our team are out and all accounted for. Everyone was very efficiently evacuated.
“We been told there are no injuries which is the important thing but we have no news as what happens next.
“We’re all on the street outside the campus now and if it was an electrical issue, I’d imagine they’ll have to check everything before we can get back in.
“They’ve also torn a big part of the roof away to let the smoke out but if it rains now, the whole place will be flooded.”
Belém is on the edge of the Amazon rainforest and receives thunderous downpours late in the afternoon almost every day.
Mr O’Brien said he was unsure what would happen with the rest of the day’s schedule on what is meant to be the penultimate day at the talks, with negotiations expected to continue late into the night.
A meeting of EU heads of delegation was meant to take place at midnight Irish time.
“Everyone left with what they stood up in so in terms of organising meetings elsewhere, I don’t know if that’s possible,” Mr O’Brien said.
The Minister is scheduled to leave Belém late on Friday night but those plans too are now in doubt.
Earlier on Thursday, he was part of an EU team that concluded negotiations on aspects of adaptation funding to assist poor countries protect themselves against the impacts of climate change.
He also signed a declaration on behalf of Ireland pledging the country’s support for the creation of a “roadmap” to end the use of fossil fuels globally.
The initiative was begun by Colombia whose representatives were about to hold a press conference when the fire broke out.
Mr O’Brien said Colombia had asked Ireland to co-host a conference next April to get signatory countries working on the detail of the roadmap.
A statement from Cop30 said: “The fire service will conduct full safety checks and is expected to provide an update at 4pm [7pm Irish time].”
