Chemical unit gutted in City

A major fire at a godown in Commercial Street on Sunday evening destroyed materials worth several lakhs of rupees. As many as 50 firemen with 20 fire tenders struggled for more than four hours to extinguish the fire. However, there were no casualties.
The fire at the three-storey godown of Bright and Co, a varnish manufacturer, on Veerapillai Street near Commercial Street police station, destroyed paint thinner and other highly inflammable chemicals stored in barrels, said police. Workers on the ground floor of the godown heard noise akin to explosions around 4.40 pm. They came out running and informed the police who immediately summoned the fire force. “We received the fire alert at 4.50 pm. We sent only three fire tenders as we were told that the fire was in a hotel. The firemen were shocked to see a manufacturing unit in huge flames. We summoned seven more fire tenders as it was a major fire,” said Deputy Director Fire (Tech) B K Hampagol. “A few minutes after the firemen swung into action, there were nearly four blasts. We summoned 20 more fire tenders as would could not contain the fire. We decided to use foam, which is used only during major fire incidents to put off the fire. It took nearly four hours for us to extinguish the fire,” he added. Located in a highly congested area, the godown had only two small fire extinguishers. No worker in the unit was trained to use the fire extinguishers. Moreover, the owners had stored small containers and packets on staircase, which impeded access to the location of the fire, Hampagol added. He urged members of public to alert the fire department about such manufacuring units whcih should not be located in densely populated areas. The police said fire officials said cause for the incident is stated to be electric short circuit or a burning beedi butt.