A fire that broke out inside a footwear godown in a six-storey building near the busy Ernakulam South Railway Station Wednesday morning rattled Kochi as dozens of fire tenders and over a 100 Fire and Rescue Services personnel initially struggled to bring the fire under control.
There were 28 workers and staff inside the building when the fire broke out around 11.30 a.m. No one was injured in the fire.
Five-hour operation
Initial reports said the fire might have broken out on the ground floor where the emergency power generator and electrical controls are located. The cause of the fire is not known yet. Firemen were able to enter the building well after 4 p.m. to ensure that the fire was totally extinguished.
It finally took a total of 278 firemen from 34 stations in Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur and Alappuzha districts to bring the fire totally under control, said R. Prasad, Technical Director of Fire and Rescue Services. Forty-five fire tenders were involved in the operations that lasted about five hours. Fire tenders from the Kochi airport, India naval base, Cochin Port Trust and Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s Kochi refinery were also pressed into service.
With massive columns of smoke billowing out of the top stories of the building, the fire initially looked like it would break out of control. Occupants of a nearby residential flat as well as commercial offices were evacuated as fire tenders struggled to negotiate the narrow Kalathiparambu Road at the south end and the road leading to the building on fire from the north railway end.
Frightening situation
The situation was compounded by the fact that the building had little openings and the water being pumped from the fire tenders could not reach the inside of the building, said Mr. Prasad. The small vents prevented speedy pumping of water, creating a frightening situation initially.
Later, during the operations, firefighters reached the top balconies of neighbouring buildings to pump water into the building. Mr. Prasad said the massive stock inside the building might have caused the fire to spread fast as firefighting swung into full scale.
Delay alleged
The fire was detected around 11.30 a.m., said a staff working with the footwear company. “We were in the front office downstairs when we were alerted about the fire,” he said. Those inside quickly left the building to safety. However, some alleged that there was some delay in the arrival of firemen at the scene.
The movement of fire tenders was also hampered by the large crowd that gathered in the area. Police personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd as well as stopping traffic on the Kalathiparambu Road, which provided the main access to the site.
Inquiry
Mayor Soumini Jain said that an inquiry would be conducted into the incident. P.T. Thomas and Hibi Eden, MLAs, along with the Mayor, were part of the team that supervised the firefighting operations.