A major fire at Elastrex Polymers, a footwear manufacturing unit, in Peenya Industrial Area on Friday evening raged for more than six hours even as about 400 fire service personnel with 47 fire tenders struggled to douse it.
Though the blaze broke out at 3.55 p.m., the flames were still high even after 10 p.m. There was high anxiety as there were rumours of people trapped inside, but the inferno made it impossible for the firemen to do anything about it. Moreover, none of the company officials, even six hours after the fire broke out, were present at the spot to confirm the same.
“Hope no one is trapped inside,” N. Shivakumar, Inspector-General of Police (Fire and Emergency Services Department) told The Hindu .
What started as a small fire around 3.55 p.m. at Elastrex Polymers, which supplies footwear to a popular footwear brand, engulfed the sprawling premises in a few minutes causing a scare in the neighbourhood. Some factories in this industrial area asked their employees to go home even as the power connection snapped.
Eyewitnesses said Elastrex's staff tried to douse the fire initially, but had to call the Fire Services when it got of out hand. Highly inflammable materials, including polymers, plastic, rubber, adhesive and chemicals had been stored in the factory. Besides, sources said a huge quantity of diesel had been illegally stored to run the generators in the light of frequent power disruptions this week.
Fire and Emergency Services Director B.G. Chengappa said only an investigation could determine the cause of the fire.
“When the fire started raging, employees ran out of the building, took their vehicles and left,” an employee working in the packaging department told The Hindu . Seeking anonymity, he also claimed that there were two minor fires in the past. According to him, there were about 150 employees on the shift.
Venkatesh, an employee of an e-waste recycling plant in the vicinity, said he and his colleagues heard three blasts from inside the building.
The intensity of the fire was so much that each of the 47 fire tenders refilled water several times and attempted to douse the fire. The late evening rainfall in the area also did not help much. The billowing smoke, reeking of a cocktail of chemicals, spread through the area while charred walls and furniture and shattered windows presented a bleak picture of safety compromised.
Mr. Shivakumar said that several industrial units having water storage facilities voluntarily opened up for the fire tenders to fill water. Police and Fire Services personnel were grappling for information as no representative of the company was available at the spot. “The fire could have been controlled well had the company provided us with the building plan as well as the details of the chemicals stored inside,” a senior fire official said.
Gridlock
Fire tenders from city had to struggle to reach the spot due to heavy gridlocks on Tumkur Road, so vehicles were summoned from Tumkur and Nelamangala. At 11 p.m., the fire was under control in 80 per cent of the building. According to senior officials, fire personnel were trying to douse the flames on the second floor of the building. They said the fire could be doused completely by 3 a.m. and recommended that the building be demolished.
