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40 firefighters, 10 tenders douse flames at Ludhiana hosiery unit in 22 hours
The fire tenders were refilled nearly 150 times during the operation.
The fire department remained on its toes for more than 22 hours after a fire broke out at a hosiery unit, Vallabh Hosiery, in Mahavir Jain Colony of Sundar Nagar on Monday evening.
The fire broke out at around 6.30pm on Monday and the firefighting operation continued till 5pm on Tuesday. Ten fire tenders and around 40 firefighters were deputed at the spot. No casualty was reported, but goods and machinery worth lakhs were completely gutted.
The firefighters said that a lot of cotton and polyester were stocked in the building that had a single entry due to which they had trouble dousing the flames.
The hosiery unit was situated in a narrow street and water was also not available in the nearby areas, so the tenders had to be refilled from Sundar Nagar fire station and King Palace. The fire tenders were refilled nearly 150 times during the operation.
Sub-fire officer (SFO) Maninder Singh said, “The operation continued till 5pm on Tuesday. There was so much heat in the building and the flames had also engulfed the basement, due to which it was difficult to enter the building. There was a lot of smoke. The firefighters had to bring down a few walls of the factory for dousing the flames. Nothing much can be said about whether firesafety arrangements were made by the owner or not as everything was damaged, but we saw a few fire extinguishers.”
EVENING RUSH DELAYED OPERATION
The fire fighters deputed at different stations in the city faced trouble reaching at the spot on Monday evening because there was a traffic jam on city roads, as the residents were rushing back to their houses before imposition of night curfew from 7pm onwards.
Residents living nearby accused that the firefighters reached an hour late due to which the fire spread. As per information, the tender from Sundar Nagar station reached the spot in 15-20 minutes, while the tenders from other stations took an hour to reach after an alert was received at 6.40pm.
Fire station officer Shristi Nath said, “The firefighters from Sundar Nagar station were first to reach the spot. As it was a major fire, the sub-fire officer asked the other stations to send more tenders. It took some time for firefighters from other stations to reach the spot due to evening rush on city roads. However the operation was commenced by the team of Sundar Nagar station.”
