Car rams into electricity pole, sets off blaze at rice mill godown in Kharar

Kaur Singh, senior station officer at the Kharar fire station, said they received information about the fire at Garg Rice Mill around 9.30 am

A speeding car crashing into an electricity pole triggered a massive fire at a rice mill godown near Nijjar Chowk at Chajju Majra, Kharar, on Saturday.

Firefighters rushed to the scene with three fire tenders that were refilled 15 times to douse the flames. (HT)

Kaur Singh, senior station officer at the Kharar fire station, said they received information about the fire at Garg Rice Mill around 9.30 am.

Firefighters rushed to the scene with three fire tenders that were refilled 15 times to douse the flames. Singh said gunny bags, tarpaulin and wooden slabs, used for storing rice and wheat grain, were gutted in the blaze.

Mill’s owner Rishabh Singla said residents informed him that a car rammed into an electricity pole outside the godown that triggered sparks in a transformer. A spark fell on the jute and plastic gunny bags kept in the godown, leading to a fire that spread through the godown in less than an hour. Singla claimed that he suffered a loss of over ₹50 lakh.

Later during the day, an earth mover was pressed into service and the godown was demolished. As the locality is heavily populated, police also reached the spot and cordoned off the area. Police also had to resort to crowd control measures to keep curious onlookers away from the fire.