Navigating congested lanes to traffic snarls due to curbs for the farmers’ protest followed by a 7-hour operation: Firefighters had their task cut out tackling the blaze at a paint factory in Outer Delhi’s Alipur. Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Chief Atul Garg said the fire broke out around 4 pm, but residents and passersby tried to douse it themselves. “Over an hour later,. at 5.25 pm, a fire call was made. Initially, five tenders were rushed to the spot from a nearby fire station. Eighteen more were deployed later,” he said. The initial fire tenders reached the spot in nearly five minutes despite the narrow lanes. The backup tenders, however, were delayed due to traffic restrictions and barricading at Singhu border due to the farmers’ protest. “Had we got a smooth path, we could have reached early and the blaze could have been extinguished,” Garg added. Dwarka fire station officer, Mukul Bhardwaj, who was part of the backup team, said, “It was difficult to enter the premises as the fire was spreading everywhere. While a few firefighters were trying to douse the blaze from the outside, some of us entered to go and look for the bodies, all of which were charred. Most bodies were recovered from the back side of the factory. they lay close together.” He added that the fact that a drain was situated so close to the factory only added to their problems as the fire spread rapidly to other buildings. “We then had to douse the fire in neighbouring buildings. By this time, plumes of thick black smoke had engulfed the whole lane. Controlling the crowd was also a task as residents had gathered around,” he recalled. He added that multiple hose pipes from the fire tenders were extended into the lane to access the burning factory.
