20201110 22 fire tenders, 140 men fight Bengaluru factory blaze
India Nov 10 2020 “Building” “Factories” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
22 fire tenders, 140 men fight Bengaluru factory blaze
Updated: 2020–11–11
The impact of the inferno was such that plastic water tanks of all adjoining buildings melted and the interiors of four houses behind the factory were gutted
BENGALURU: Seven firemen were injured, a building collapsed and four houses were damaged after a fire broke out at a chemical factory in Guddadahalli off Mysuru Road, on Tuesday morning. There were no casualties. Preliminary investigation revealed the fire was caused by a burning beedi that was thrown by one of the six labourers, who were unloading barrels containing chemicals Rekha Chemicals on 13th Cross, 1st Main, Guddadahalli. “One of the barrels leaked while unloading and the workers hadn’t noticed it. Within seconds, fire broke out and left behind a trail of destruction,” a fire service personnel told TOI strong span inlineimage A total of 140 fire service personnel along with 22 fire tenders toiled for 12 hours to extinguish the flames completely. Around 2.5 lakh litres of water had to be used during the operation.
While four firefighters suffered second-degree burns, three of them were injured when the factory building collapsed later in the evening. The condition of one of the injured firemen is said to be critical. Deputy inspector general fire and emergency services KT Balakrishna, who led the firefighting team, said: “We got the first call at 10.30am from residents, who started screaming ‘benki…benki’ (fire…fire). Later, one of the residents informed us that a chemical factory had caught fire and we immediately rushed to the spot. In fact, fire and smoke were visible from a distance of 10 kilometres.”
There were around 14 explosions at the factory when the chemical-laden barrels came in contact with the flames and this forced residents of nearby buildings to abandon everything and flee. “This was one of the major firefighting operations undertaken in the city in recent years,” Balakrishna said.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, who visited the spot, pegged the damage caused by the blaze at around Rs 6 crore. BBMP claimed the owner of Rekha Chemicals had been issued a notice to shift the factory to another site near Mysuru Road, but the latter had failed to move out.
The impact of the inferno was such that plastic water tanks of all adjoining buildings melted and the interiors of four houses behind the factory were gutted. The explosions that followed triggered panic in the locality, with residents rushing out of their homes. Pushpa K, a resident of the area, who was watching TV at home, said: “I heard a loud noise and rushed out to the terrace to see what had happened. I was terrified to see a ball of fire and thick black smoke. I screamed and ran out of the building along with others. It felt like a bomb blast.”
Another resident and owner of a cement godown located behind the factory, said: “I could see flames from my window. But since there is a huge wall behind my godown, the fire didn’t enter my place, or else I would have lost cement worth Rs 30 lakh.”
Two fire tenders reached the spot within a few minutes and Byatarayanapura police cordoned off the area to ensure there was no obstruction to movement of fire tenders.
Web Source: The times of India