Blaze at cooler manufacturing factory in Greater Noida: 175 men, 35 engines involved in 6-hr op

According to officials, the fire first started in a warehouse where cardboard boxes for coolers are stored. It then spread to the factory where coolers are made before engulfing two other warehouses and a nearby teddy bear manufacturing factory.

“We were alerted that a cooler-making company, located in the Ecotech-3 police station area, had caught fire. It spread to manufacturing companies around it,” officials said.

Pradeep Kumar, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Noida, said no one was injured in the incident.

“A teddy bear manufacturing unit also caught fire. We called in fire tenders from Hapur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr and private vehicles of Haldirams and Yamaha companies. Luckily, no one was trapped,” he added.

“We are checking if the affected units had proper fire no-objection certificates. There will be a detailed investigation of the incident,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Shakti Mohan Avasthy said. He added that the godowns stored cartons of coolers.

Around 12.30-1 pm, residents and passersby in the vicinity suddenly noticed a giant plume of grey-black smoke from nearly a kilometre away. Roads leading to the area were quickly blocked for commuters, with entry allowed only for police and fire-fighting vehicles.

At 1.50 pm, two fire-fighting vehicles were at the spot. In the next 25 minutes, eight more fire tenders reached. An hour later, 35 vehicles were fighting the blaze.

“The fire started around 11.30 am. Most workers were on leave (for Eid) and the factory was closed. The fire started in the warehouse but grew out of control. We called the fire department,” said the firm’s security guard. At the spot, the heat of the fire could be felt from 50 metres away. Apart from fire tenders, private fire-fighting vehicles and water vans of the Greater Noida Authority were also at the spot. Two earth movers were seen breaking the walls of the manufacturing units while several police officers and firefighters helped control the crowd and clear the debris. Station House Officers and personnel from four police stations in Central Noida, including the DCP, ADCP and ACP, were at present at the scene.

“More than 35 fire vehicles have made at least 15 rounds. We have been trying to control the fire but as it is huge, it will take a few more hours to put it out completely,” senior in-charge of the fire service department, Yogendra Chaurasia, told The Indian Express around 4.30 pm.
Sumit Malik, 35, a marble shop owner who was at the spot, said, “Two warehouses of the factory, in which a lot of goods were stored, went up in flames.”

Firefighters at the scene described the difficulties they faced. “This is among the biggest fires we’ve witnessed in the past few years. The heat was intense; we covered our faces with wet handkerchiefs and entered the burning premises to help with the operation. The situation would have been worse if there were chemicals inside, but it was mostly cartons and plastic moulds,” said one of the firefighters.

But it was plastic and paper that helped the fire spread, said CFO Kumar. “It made it difficult to control.”

“The cooler company belonged to Punit Goel; the toy manufacturing unit was owned by Mohit Sharma,” said ACP, Central Noida, Baba Sahab Vir Kumar.

(inputs from Amrita Tripathi & Yuvraj Pandey, interns at The Indian Express)