Fire continues to rage on intermittently at Peeragarhi collapse spot

New Delhi:

New Delhi:

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More than 24 hours after a fireman was killed and 17 others injured in a factory collapse triggered by a blaze in outer Delhi’s Peeragarhi, fire continued to rage intermittently from the rubble through Friday. Cooling operations are expected to continue for at least one more day.

Atul Garg, director of Delhi Fire Services, said his men worked through the night in an attempt to douse the flames, but the wind and the remaining material amid the rubble kept reigniting flames.

“The building’s basement is filled with plastic, fibre, batteries and other materials. Whenever we removed rubble from any spot, the material stored inside would be exposed to the wind and cause fire to reignite. This has been happening since Thursday and is hampering our progress,” said Garg.

“The rubble is spread over a 3,000 square yard plot and it should take us at least till Saturday evening to ensure no fire is raging at any point,” said Garg.

“At any time, four of our fire tenders and a couple of earthmover machines are working. Even when the MCD begins removing the debris eventually, we will have to station a fire tender there since there is possibility of fire raging even later,” he said.

The officer said the front part of the building, which continued to stand, too would have to be brought down. The rest of the structure behind it had collapsed Thursday. “There is no way the standing structure can be used. It is very unsafe. We’ll ask the municipal corporation to bring it down soon,” said Garg.

The rescuers said that by Friday afternoon, they were nearly certain that no one else was trapped inside. “Once we were sure no one else was trapped in the rubble, we called off our search operation,” said Shri Niwas, assistant commandant, NDRF.

The collapse had left six persons, including three fire fighters, trapped under the rubble. They were pulled out after a rescue operation lasting over seven hours. One fireman, Amit Baliyan, could not be saved. Garg said that three of his men continue to remain hospitalised.

Garg said the factory, out of which Okaya Batteries ran a factory, an outlet and corporate office, did have a fire no-objection certificate (NOC) earlier but it wasn’t renewed.

“My officers have informed me that the building did have a fire NOC till sometime ago, but it wasn’t renewed. We will check the files to understand what shortcomings existed,” he said.

The local police said they were questioning the company staffers about the circumstances that triggered the fire and the subsequent blast but were yet to ascertain anything. “It seems the blast happened in a compressor of one of the machines used for making batteries, but we can’t say anything with certainty yet,” said Rajender Sagar, additional deputy commissioner of police (outer district).

“We will wait for the fire department to submit its finding on what triggered the blaze and what caused the blast,” said Sagar on Friday morning. By evening, A Koan, deputy commissioner of police (outer district), said the probe was handed over to the crime branch.

As of Friday, the police were yet to make any arrests.

On Friday morning, Baliyan was cremated and the fire department officials paid homage to him at the Fire Safety Management Academy in Rohini.