The Fire and Rescue Services Department has ruled out the possibility of sabotage behind a major fire that broke out at a building of the Thripunitura municipality on Saturday while attributing it to careless stockpiling of highly inflammable materials inside the room.
Fire Divisional Officer R. Prasad said on Monday that preliminary inference showed that the fire might have occurred due to the presence of pyrethroid pesticide used for mosquito control in the room that was completely gutted. “The chemical gets easily ignited by heat, sparks or flames. Exposure to continuous heat will also trigger an explosion,” he said.
Mr. Prasasd said the room had stockpiles of bleaching powder and extremely inflammable chemicals like pyrethroid. “We have also ruled out the possibility of an electrical shortcut after the Kerala State Electricity Board confirmed that there was no power connection in the room where the fire broke out,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Fire Department will prepare its report within two days. It will also issue necessary guidelines to be implemented at the municipality building to avert such incidents in the future. The municipal authorities said that immediate measures would be taken to ensure adequate fire safety mechanism in the complex.