Electric short circuit is said to be the cause for the fire mishap. However, there were no injuries and casualties as there was no one inside the godown, police said. A few security guards noticed smoke inside the godown of ‘Gokaldas Exports’ around 3 am and immediately alerted the fire force. Twenty-nine fire tenders, 150 firemen and 50 recruits rushed to the spot in view of the nature of the materials involved.They took nearly five hours to put off the fire and brought it under control by 8 am. However, the senior fire force officials stationed the fire tenders near the spot till 1 pm as a precautionary measure, said Karnataka Fire and Emergency Service Director B G Chengappa. Firemen Nagaraj sustained minor injuries in the incident and was treated as an outpatient.
Timely arrival
The timely arrival of the firemen and fire tenders averted what could have been the biggest fire mishap in the last four months. The godown is spread over four acres. Moreover, there are many industrial units adjacent to the godown where highly inflammable and other materials are stored. The fire was at its worst and was on the verge of spreading to neighbouring building when the firemen arrived. Six hours of hard efforts by the firemen prevented further damage, police said. The incident led to partial damage of the building. Walls of the godown have developed cracks as the firemen had to use much water with force. Gokaldas Exports belongs to Hinduja Group of Companies. Raw cloth materials from various textile mills were stored here. The unit supplies the cloth rolls to various ready-made garments factories. The rolls were stored in seven zones when the fire broke out of which rolls stored in five zones were reduced to ashes. The unit starts at 9 am and closes at 5.30 am. Hence, no one was inside the unit, added the police.
Four fire mishaps
The City has witnessed four major fire mishaps during the last one-and-half months. Nine persons were killed when they jumped out from sixth and seventh floors in Carlton Towers as there was dense smoke inside due to electric short circuit on February 23. Exactly a month later on March 23, a major fire broke out at the Ministry of Defence CSD canteen store depot on Trinity Church Road, old Airport Road. Materials stored were reduced to ashes. The scrap yard at BMTC Central Work Depot at Shanti Nagar was a blazing pile March 3 after materials stored in the depot caught fire. A bar and a restaurant on the terrace of a three-storey commercial building was gutted in a fire in the busy Residency Road on April 12. Soaring temperature, human errors and electric short circuit led to these incidents, said a fire force officer.
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