Ludhiana: Raging fire reduces tool unit to ashes in Focal Point
Such was the intensity of the fire that 15 fire tenders were pressed into service; the tenders were refilled at least 100 to 120 times, as per fire officials
A massive fire broke out at a tool manufacturing unit in Focal Point late on Tuesday night, reducing raw materials, machinery and finished products worth lakhs to ash.
No casualty has been reported in the incident.
“As per initial investigation, the fire started due to a short circuit,” sub-fire officer Maninder Singh said.
Such was the intensity of the fire that 15 fire tenders were pressed into service. The tenders were refilled at least 100 to 120 times, as per fire officials.
The fire broke out at Shree Tools located at Phase-4 of the focal point at 9 pm on Tuesday. The factory workers tried to douse the flames using the fire extinguishers and water pipes installed at the unit. However, as the wind was flowing at a high speed, the fire got out of control.
Panic spread in the area, which hosts large-scale industrial units, as the flames were visible from afar.
Even though the flames were brought under control at around 4 am, the tenders remained stationed at the site till 8 am to cater to any emergency.
Giving details about the losses, S C Ralhan, owner of Shree Tools, said, “first, it ravaged packed goods worth lakhs and then it engulfed around 20 sets of machinery installed on the first floor.”
Ralhan, a resident of Jamalpur, was at home when he received the information about the fire. He said that as many as 20 machines and a huge quantity of packed material have been destroyed in the fire.
He said that as the night shift was about to start, no workers were inside the factory. According to the owner, the fire started from the unit’s godown and soon engulfed the entire building.
The owner also claimed that fire safety measures were installed in the building.
Sub-fire officer Singh said that wind flowing at high speed hampered the fire-fighting operations, but with consistent efforts, they were able to stop the fire before it engulfed the ground floor.
He said that the ground floor had a huge quantity of stored raw plastic and the situation would have aggravated if the fire had reached there.
Fire dept faces acute staff crunch
Despite catering to one of the highly-populated cities in the state, the fire brigade has merely around 19 drivers, who are divided into two shifts, morning and night.
A fire brigade official said, “As new fire tenders have been added to the fleet of fire tenders available to respond to emergencies, the fire brigade battles with a crunch of drivers.”
He said that as the fire at the industrial unit required a quick response and drivers who were off duty were called immediately.
He said that the fire brigade requires at least 10 more drivers, as its tasks, including refilling, play a key role.
He added that despite having advanced equipment, the fire brigade is running out of staff to utilise the resources.
