A major fire ravaged the godowns attached to the Jain irrigation factory on its sprawling compound at 100-Gollapalli village abutting the Chittoor-Puttur highway on Wednesday.
The thick smoke engulfed the entire area. Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot from Chittoor to douse the flames and more from Pakala, Puttur and other places were pressed into service. The residents of the nearby Guttameedhapalli village were evacuated on a war-footing. The firemen and the factory staff, after struggling hard for around five hours, succeeded in putting out the fire. Six water tankers were also pressed into service.
Pulp-making unit
The compound has a pulp making and a ripening unit, besides the godowns. Fire was first sighted in the first godown, which later spread to the three adjoining godowns.
The thick black smoke was attributed to the burning of plastic products such as trays and containers. The heavy burning of the plastic products and the release of toxic gases into the atmosphere would have been disastrous had it been a closed space. “There is a lot of open space around and the smoke did not affect the people around,” Sameer Sharma, Manager, Jain Irrigation explained to media persons.
Revenue Divisional Officer (Chittoor) Penchala Kishore and Deputy Superintendent of Police S.Rajeswara Reddy rushed to the spot.
There are divergent views on the cause of fire and the extent of damage, while the fire officials are on the job.
