Fire engulfs railway station warehouse

No loss of life or injury reported, parcels worth millions destroyed

LAHORE: A warehouse of the Lahore Railway Station caught fire on Sunday, resulting in loss of goods worth millions of rupees.

Rescue 1122 Information Wing revealed that the store filled with cartons, old clothes and newspapers was quickly engulfed by the blaze owing to the presence of flammable material.

Nearby people rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire but to no avail. Meanwhile, the authorities called Rescue 1122 service to deal with the fire.

Firefighters of Rescue 1122 and railways rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire amidst heavy smoke.

Fire erupts in foam warehouse

Reportedly, the fire did not spread to the adjacent warehouses due to the effective containment efforts by the firefighters.

The Lahore Rescue 1122 spokesperson stated that the flames were visible from a faraway distance and several panicked citizens flocked to the scene to probe the reason behind the heavy smoke that had covered the locale.

The people were dispersed from the site to avoid injury, he said. It is noteworthy that a large number of warehouses, of the railways and private entities, are situated in the surrounding area.

Initial investigations suggest that ongoing welding work inside the warehouse resulted in the blaze.

Eye witnesses said a spark had dropped onto the combustible material in the warehouse as the workers were busy in welding. The spec of ember suddenly started consuming the nearby flammables and soon fire engulfed the entire warehouse.

No casualties: Fire breaks out in warehouse  

Detailed investigations are underway regarding the matter. No loss of life or injury was reported in the incident, though parcels and material inside the storage unit that were supposed to be dispatched to different parts of the country were destroyed.

Incidents of fire are not uncommon in the provincial metropolis. According to statistics issued by Rescue 1122r, during four months in 2019, 6,195 fires were reported in Punjab which killed 49 people and injured 269 others.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2020.