A tribute to those who have fallen in the line of duty will be the central activity of the National Fire Protection Week tomorrow, confirmed the Cuban Fire Brigade.

The meeting to remember their martyrs will be held in Havana’s Historical Centre and at the Firefighters’ Mausoleum in the Colón Cemetery, according to the programme of the institution, which is attached to the Ministry of the Interior.

This pantheon is more than twenty metres high and stands out for its beauty and majesty in remembrance of the events of May 17, 1890, when several explosions triggered a fire of great proportions in Juan Isasi’s hardware store, located on Mercaderes and Lamparilla streets.

Several of the firemen who assisted in putting it out died stoically in what was to be one of the extraordinary disasters of that time, due to the fact that its owner, Juan Isasi, clandestinely kept considerable quantities of dynamite in his premises.

A total of 38 people died, countless others were injured and three years later, on 24 July 1897, the majestic mausoleum honouring the firemen and the civilians who lost their lives during the incident was inaugurated.

The National Fire Protection Week, in its 59th edition, is the main event of the National Day of the Fire, Physical and Nautical Safety and Protection System in the country, a responsibility of the Central State Administration Agencies and which concludes next Sunday the 18th.