A San Mariano fire in Havana’s 10 de Octubre municipality damaged a building and brought firefighters to the scene Sunday afternoon, October 18. The blaze was reported around 2 p.m. Preliminary accounts indicated no injuries, but local authorities had not issued an official report at the time of CPM’s Spanish-language coverage.
Video sent to the Cubanos por el Mundo newsroom shows flames coming through the main doorway of a house with a columned porch and balustrade. Black smoke rises over the block as firefighters work with hoses in front of the building and dozens of neighbors watch from across the street.
What the San Mariano fire footage shows
The approximately 20-second video shows a fire truck marked “Comando 4” parked on the street. Some residents stand on nearby rooftops to watch the response.
According to witness accounts received by the page NiO Reportando un Crimen, the smoke began turning white around 2:35 p.m. Some residents interpreted that change as a sign that the fire was subsiding. Authorities have not confirmed that interpretation.
The cause and extent of the damage remain unclear
The cause of the fire has not been established in the available reporting. It is also unclear whether the building was occupied as a home or how many families may have been affected.
Neither the fire department nor municipal authorities had provided official information at the time of the Spanish report. The preliminary account of no injuries should therefore not be treated as a final official casualty assessment.
Cubanos por el Mundo will update its coverage when additional confirmed information becomes available.
Other fires reported in Cuba this year
CPM has covered other building fires in Cuba during 2026. In March, residents reported a fire at Havana’s Church of the Escolapios, in the municipality of Guanabacoa. That blaze destroyed the church’s old cloister, according to images from a livestream on the church’s Facebook page, and its cause was not known at the time of publication.
In June, the newsroom reported a house fire caused by a short circuit in Las Tunas. In that case, the cause and the absence of injuries were reported by sports commentator Orlando Cruz Vázquez on social media, not by the fire department.
Those separate incidents provide context for earlier coverage. They do not establish the cause of Sunday’s San Mariano fire.
San Mariano fire: what is confirmed so far
- When: Sunday, October 18, 2026. The fire was reported around 2 p.m.
- Where: San Mariano, in Havana’s 10 de Octubre municipality. The exact street address has not been published.
- Response: Firefighters worked with hoses in front of the building. A truck marked “Comando 4” appears in the submitted video.
- Injuries: Preliminary accounts reported none. There is no official casualty report.
- Official information: Neither the fire department nor municipal authorities had commented at the time of CPM’s report.
- Still unknown: the cause of the fire, the extent of the damage, whether the building was a home and how many families may have been affected.
Were you in the area?
Anyone with firsthand information, photographs or video of the San Mariano fire can contact the CPM newsroom on WhatsApp at +1 (305) 600-3108 or use our reporting form.
American English adaptation of Cubanos por el Mundo’s original Spanish report. Featured image: editorial composition created with AI assistance from two frames of the submitted video. The images within this article are video frames.
