20200215 Kochi: Soaring heat sparks blaze concerns
India Nov 04 2020 “Other”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Kochi: Soaring heat sparks blaze concerns
Updated: 2020–02–17
KOCHI: A fire broke out on the ground near Pathalam Bridge and the blaze spread on to the dry grass in the area around 5pm on Saturday. Fire and rescue personnel from Eloor rushed to the spot and doused the fire before it could spread further.
Three hours later, another fire broke out on the west side of the south approach road of railway overbridge, Edappally. In both the cases, the fire spread from a heap of burning waste and spread faster through dried grass and bushes before the officers could douse it. With the atmospheric heat rising much earlier than the advent of summer, Ernakulam district witnessed numerous cases of fire incidents giving the fire and rescue officials a tough time.
Around 516 fire cases were reported in the 18 fire stations in the district from January to February 16 this year, out of which, more than 75% were ground fires. Officials said most of these ground fires were manmade due to careless burning of garbage bundles or dry grass. With the number of cases about to rise in the coming weeks, officials advised people to restrain from burning garbage as these could turn into major fires easily.
“More than 75% of the fire calls received by the stations were about ground fires. There is a high probability of fire breakouts due to rise in temperature and we are prepared for that. But manmade fires can be avoided if people are careful, and the best way is to avoid burning garbage bags. If people set fire to heaps of waste and move away carelessly, fire can easily spread to surroundings as the winds and atmospheric temperature will fuel it up. Even if people burn dry grass in their surroundings, they should douse it off completely before they leave and make fire lines” said Gandhinagar fire station officer Unnikrishnan A.
The only major fire breakout in the district since January was the one at the rubber scrap processing factory at Pallikkara. But officials said that many of the ground fires they doused could have led to major fires if they had gone unnoticed.
Web Source: The Nation