Fire Tears Through Baseball Stadium Ahead Of Game In Dominican Republic

A fire tore through the Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadium in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, "just moments before a baseball match was scheduled to begin," according to Max Winters of the London DAILY MAIL. The inferno broke out in the designated press area on the seventh floor of the stadium, located in the country's capital, Santo Domingo, moments before the Cibao Giants and Leones del Escogido were due to play. Reports "suggest it was an electrical fire that started in one of the air conditioning units" at around 6:30pm local time. Firefighters could be seen "tackling the blaze from pitch level with a firetruck making its way onto the playing surface to get as close as possible" to the affected area. They "eventually managed to put the fire out after around three hours," but not until after it had torn through the building, "leaving obvious damage to both the interior and exterior" (DAILY MAIL, 12/28).