Cold storage fire: ‘safety norms were not followed’

June 04, 2013 02:21 am | Updated November 16, 2021 08:45 pm IST - BELLARY

A day after the fire in the cold storage that destroyed hundreds of tonnes of agricultural produce, the fact that fire safety norms were not followed has come to the fore.

“It is mandatory to adhere to the fire safety norms and obtain no-objection certificate from the Fire and Emergency Services Department. But that was not done,” said I.F. Badabade, Chief Fire Officer, Hubli, who oversaw the fire-fighting operation, told The Hindu . According to him, buildings above 15 metres should adhere to all fire safety norms.

Mr. Badabade said the building was over 15-metres tall and had only one entry/exit point. Fire tenders could operate only from two sides. The tenders could not go to the other two sides as the building was located in a corner with a compound wall constructed adjacent to it.

“We were forced to demolish the walls to douse the flames. We had to fight for over 12 hours to bring the fire under control,” he said.

Enquiries revealed that there are around 18 cold storages that have not obtained NOCs from the department.

Mr. Badabade said he would instruct the Regional Fire Officer here to issue notice to the owners of these cold storages and godowns and inspect them to find out if they had adhered to fire safety norms. Action would be taken if it was found that norms had been flouted, he added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.