According to the Azerbaijani MoD, the fire was localized within a day and, despite the declaration that live munitions did not pose a threat to the local population, six villages were evacuated. Images of Grad missiles scattered near residential areas have surfaced online, with YouTube footage by Meydan TV describing the impact of the incident. Reports from social media sources suggest that villages were emptied but locals without cars were left behind.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 11,000 carloads of munitions were transported to Azerbaijan from the Transcaucasian military district, of which 7,200 (65%) were located in the Gilyazi munitions depot (see: Baranets Viktor Nikolaevich’s “General Staff without Secrets”, Chapter 2, 1999). Despite extensive damage observed on imagery, many of the bunkers survived the massive explosions due to their hardened construction. However, the total damage went beyond what can be seen in the imagery.

For comparison, we used a pre-fire photo from Bing maps and two photographs by Səxavət Məmməd taken within the area of the munitions depot. Note: the gate posts are identified on the satellite photo by the shadows they cast. The two red circles in the photo represent the two small red circles in the imagery with the blueish large circles in the second photo at the gate of the entrance representing the small greenish circles in the top right hand side of the imagery.