Another fire in Mumbai: Cooling ops go on for more than 48 hrs

On Saturday morning, a major fire broke out at the Kama Industrial Estate in Mumbai, injuring one person and gutting up to 25 shops.

More than 48 hours after the fire at Goregaon’s Kama Industrial Estate was doused, the fire brigade continued to perform cooling operations on Monday.

A major fire gutted around 25 small shops in Kama Industrial Estate in Mumbai on Saturday. (HT File)

On Saturday morning at 7.57 am, a major fire broke out at the ground-plus-mezzanine floor building of Kama Industrial Estate, injuring one person and gutting up to 25 shops. Although the fire and its embers were completely doused within hours after the blaze broke out, the mezzanine floor and the plastic material stored in the shops has swollen owing to the heat caused by the fire. The fire brigade suspects that these materials may explode if anybody inspects or touches them.

“The cooling operations were on, until late on Monday. The shops were being used for industrial and storage purposes, and there were plenty of plastic material and fibre sheets stored in these shops. This type of material tends to swell up owing to heat, and can become combustible. With the slightest of pressure, it can burst, and cause injuries to people around,” said one of the fire officials, who is investigating the cause of the fire.

A fire engine and a water tanker have been placed at the spot since the fire was doused on Saturday afternoon, to carry out the cooling operation. The fire brigade has begun its investigation into the cause of the fire, but officials will visit the spot only after the cooling operations are over.

Accordingly, the fire brigade called civic officials from the building and factory department, and the licence department to the spot to ascertain the extent of irregularities.

A civic official said, “We will inspect the area for illegal alterations after we are sure that there are no embers under the fibre sheets or plastic items, as molten plastic can reignite fire.”