Huge fire engulfs factory in Lahore

An incident of a huge fire was reported in a factory on Walton Road on Saturday.

Rescue sources said the fire incident was reported in the morning. It reportedly started in the assembly area due to an electrical short circuit. At least 150 workers were inside the industrial unit, however, all of them remained safe. They saved their lives after running from the scene right after the incident.

Two workers were trapped inside the building. They were rescued after breaking the windowpanes.

The fire spread up to an area of over five to six acres. A large number of rescuers took part in the operation. It took at least four hours to the firefighters to extinguish the blaze.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the incident and directed the authorities concerned to submit a report.

On the other hand, a 10-member inquiry committee has been constituted to inquire into the matter. The committee is being chaired by the additional deputy commissioner. The other members included Chief Engineer Building Central C&W Department, Chief Engineer (TEPA) LDA Lahore, Metropolitan Planning chief engineer, UD wing LDA Lahore chief engineer, LESCO chief engineer, a representative from NESPAK, District Emergency Officer Rescue 1122, Director Civil Defence and a co-opted member by the committee.

The committee will finalise its fact-finding report and recommendations within 14 days.

It will be responsible to probe the cause of the fire incident, availability of fire extinguishing equipment and HR, implementation of building codes to avoid such incidents, maintenance of electric fixture and lines, structure stability report by the engineer for the usage of building in future, provision of emergency exit etc and recommendations of the committee to avoid such incidents in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2021.