Bengaluru: A massive fire broke out at an illegal ‘chemical factory,’ Tuesday, which had reportedly stored around 2000 litres of sanitiser and other highly combustible chemicals in its premises.
Three buildings adjacent to this unit and seven motor bikes including three street light poles were gutted causing estimated loss of properties valued around Rs 3 crore.
At around 11.30 am, residents of Hosa Guddadahalli, near the Deepanjali Nagar Metro Station, called the South Fire Station to report a fire at what they claimed was a “chemical factory” in their locality.
As the fire broke out in Rekha Chemicals, employees were evacuated. Employees of an electrical parts manufacturing factory, located next to the godown, were also evacuated from the building.
Three fire personnel received fire injuries while carrying out operation to extinguish the fire, which took nearly seven hours of continuous operation, the Deputy Commissioner of Police West division of Bengaluru police , Sanjeev Patil said.
According to Patil, the Chemicals caught fire while one of the employees transferring chemicals from one barrel to the other using a pipe. “While transferring chemical, the pipe slipped and fell on the ground as a result of this large quantity of chemical spread all over and meantime, sparks came out of the UPS kept in the premises which led to the fire,” he said quoting the complaint.
Patil further added that prima facie investigations reveal that these chemicals were illegally stored in this premises as neither the factory nor the owners had the required permissions to store these chemicals.
The Fire and Emergency Services personnel rushed more than 15 fire engines to contain the fire.
By 11.45 am, the fire engines had reached the spot and began dousing the flames. “There have been no casualties as we know. We have been carrying out efforts to douse the flames since the last four hours,” said Regional Fire Officer Ramesh, who was a part of the firefighting efforts.
While the South Fire Station’s control room officials stated that the factory was located in close proximity to several residential buildings. Their primary task was to ensure that the fire did not spread to other buildings.
“We had to ensure that the fire did not spread to nearby buildings as the setbacks are very narrow. The building has been gutted completely. There’s nothing left. The firefighting efforts are still going on. We will be able to determine the cause for the fire only after this is complete,” RFO Ramesh had added.
The Bengaluru police has registered a case and investigations are on.