A fire broke out at a leather and steel waste godown at Oomerabad village near Ambur town in Tirupattur district on Wednesday. It destroyed goods worth lakhs of rupees.
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The police said an electrical short circuit could have caused the fire. Around 7.45 a.m., residents and passersby noticed the smoke coming out of the godown and alerted the Oomerabad police.
The godown owner, K. Yesuraj, 48, rushed to the spot after hearing the news from neighbours. Immediately, fire tenders from Ambur town rushed to the spot and put down the fire after an hour of struggle. A minivan and leather waste were gutted.
The godown had a huge quantity of leather waste and steel from tanneries in Ambur and Vaniyambadi. The leather waste was kept at the godown before it was recycled. Though the godown had stocks worth more than ₹20 lakh, the exact loss is being estimated.
Fire service personnel faced difficulty in dousing the fire since the stocks included a large quantity of leather waste. Another problem the personnel faced was reaching the affected area of the building. They had to break open the side wall to send in fire extinguishers to douse the fire, police said