Fire in chemical godown,loss worth lakhs

Workers of the Fire and Emergency Wing of the Municipal Corporation struggled for two hours to douse the flames and as many as 10 fire tenders and a skylift were pressed into service.

The fire,however,kept resurfacing till evening,said sources. Fortunately,no casualties were reported in the incident. The dozens of drums kept in the unit contained 300 kg of Sorbitol solution (70%) in each one of them,besides some other substances like dextrose powder,starch powder and citric acid.

“We were inside the unit and noticed fire in one part of the shed adjoining Shalimar Paints. We tried to douse the flames but the fire spread so fast that we had to flee the spot,” said a worker at Dove Chemicals.

The source of the fire is yet to be ascertained. “Thankfully,the fire was prevented from spreading towards the paint unit,where a huge quantity of thinner (which is highly combustible) was stored,” said station fire officer ML Sharma.

Labourers of the enforcement and engineering wing removed dozens of chemical and paint drums from the premises to keep the fire from spreading further.

MC Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria and ADC P S Shergill,among others,visited the spot and took stock of the situation.

The Additional Commissioner supervised the fire fighting operation,along with fire officers S K Gossain and M L Sharma.