The major fire that broke out in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar on Tuesday evening was doused after 19 hours with the use of 65 fire tenders by Wednesday noon.
A truck with a Punjab number plate, which was loaded with rubber sheets and parked inside a godown in the Khirki Extension area, caught fire at 5 pm on Tuesday. The blaze eventually spread inside the godown of a private company, which is in the business of providing rubber raw material for retreading tyres.
Apart from police and fire department, teams from DDMA, Air Force and civil defence were being engaged in the relief and rescue operations. The helicopter buckets of Indian Air Force made three sorties to extinguish fire. Five fire tenders with dry chemical power (DCP) foam were also engaged in the operation.
The Sant Nirankari School, a gym, and 13 buildings near the godown, have been evacuated for safety reasons, Romil Baaniya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), told mediapersons. Medical teams at Max Saket, Rainbow Child Speciality hospital, Safdarjung hospital, and AIIMS have been alerted to attend to any injured, he added. However, no one has been injured so far.
Even after the overnight operation, fire existed at eastern corner of the godown on Wednesday. Teams of fire department claimed they could extinguish it only after the raw materials burnt completely.
Meanwhile a case has been registered under IPC sections 285 and 336 at Malviya Nagar police station.
