A fire at a Chennai Corporation central yard in Chintadripet on Sunday afternoon destroyed shredded plastic meant for laying roads.
Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) officers said no one was injured in the incident. Three fire tenders from Triplicane, Vepery and Egmore put out the fire that blazed for nearly an hour from 4 p.m. onwards.
An officer of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) said that the fire was reported to them at 4.50 p.m. Fire tenders immediately left for the site and put it out in half an hour.
“We suspect a cigarette butt may have ignited the waste and caused the fire. Further investigations will determine the exact cause,” said an officer.
The yard had nearly seven tonnes of shredded plastic as well as some unusable garbage bins that had been stored for use in laying roads.
Several years ago, the yard had been used to manufacture bins made of cement concrete, said P. Dakshinamurthy, secretary of ward 62 where the yard is located. “The manufacture of the cement concrete bins was stopped as the yard lacked the required infrastructure. For over a decade now, it has been used to store plastics and unusable garbage bins,” he said.
S. Gajendran, the watchman of the yard said he had just stepped out for lunch when the fire broke out. “As soon as people informed me, I rushed to the spot. Sometimes, people walk in and out of the yard in my absence, so I suspect that someone may have thrown a cigarette butt inside,” he said.
