Costa Rica fire authorities have blamed a forklift for a large fire in February in El Coyol which affected 20,000 sqm at the Empaques Santa Ana paper mill.

The fire led to significant damage and left  51 people requiring medical attention.

A fire department spokesman says the fire was caused by a forklift that collected garbage in one of the warehouses.

It is understood that the forklift shovel heated up as it dragged on the ground and when it came into contact with some papers that it was picking up, it started the fire.

The Empaques Santa Ana blaze has been classified as “the largest of a structural type in the last 29 years”, surpassed only by the fire that occurred in 1993, in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, where three blocks were consumed by flames.