Factory management blames fire brigade for inferno in SITE

Claim goods worth millions lost due to fire brigade’s negligence, officials deny allegations

KARACHI: No loss of life was reported during a fire that broke out on Sunday at a plastic factory in SITE area.

The fire erupted at around 9:30am on the ground floor of the factory located in the Labour Square area of SITE. The factory, spread over 1,600 square yards, produced plastic chairs.

Fire brigade officials termed the blaze a third-degree fire. Fire tenders from all over the city were called to extinguish the flames. Apart from the fire tenders from the local government, fire-fighters from the Karachi Port Trust and Pakistan Navy also participated in extinguishing the fire.

Explosions were heard from inside the factory, as boilers, generators and chemical drums were set off.

 

[brid video="141257" player="7247" title="Plastics factory catches thirddegree fire in Karachi"]

Rescue teams also faced difficulties in battling the fire due to the intensity of the wind. Fortunately, no loss of life was reported in the fire, as no labourers were present inside the factory when the flames erupted as it was a holiday.

Police and Rangers personnel cordoned off the site to prevent passersby from approaching the factory. Police officials said they reached the site to disperse the gathering crowd that would obstruct fire-fighting work. Police said so far they have not ascertained the cause of the fire and could not make any assumptions until the fire brigade department issues its final report.

Fire-fighters feared the inferno could spread to a nearby K-Electric grid station and petrol pump. The pump was immediately evacuated and the fire-fighters were able to prevent the buildings from catching fire.

 



The fire brigade spokesperson said that initially, three fire tenders were sent to the site but were not enough to douse the inferno, which is why more vehicles were dispatched, including water tankers.

The factory administration blamed the fire brigade department for using delay tactics and not operating properly. “They reached the spot late with not enough vehicles or equipment,” claimed the factory management. “They did not even have water or foam to douse the fire. They are responsible for our loss of millions of rupees,” accused the management.

On the other hand, fire brigade officials said that they did their level best to douse the fire. “We are not magicians,” said a fire brigade official, Zafar Khan. “We tried our level best. We could not douse the fire in few minutes because there were lots of chemicals and plastic present inside the factory. Strong winds also caused difficulties for us in extinguishing the fire,” he explained. Khan said all the available vehicles were dispatched immediately to the site to douse the fire, adding that they also ran out of foam soon into the fire-fighting operation.



Following the request of the local government’s fire officials, fire tenders from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), Pakistan Navy and Karachi Port Trust also reached the site to aid the fire-fighting efforts.

Due to the shortage of water during the operation, KWSB Managing Director Hashim Raza Zaidi directed the authorities concerned to open the water hydrants to supply water to the fire-fighters.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar also visited the site of the inferno to oversee fire-fighting operations and direct the authorities to make all efforts to battle the blaze. While speaking to the media, Akhtar criticised the Sindh government for not making the fire brigade department self-sufficient. “The fire department does not have the necessary equipment to deal with such incidents,” he lamented. “All the vehicles have been utilised here and in case of an incident elsewhere in the city [the department] would have no fire tenders to utilise,” he said.

The wall on one side of the factory collapsed, while the remaining sections of the building were damaged.