Pencil factory catches fire like a tinder box

KARACHI:

A fire broke out on the first floor of a pencil manufacturing factory located behind the Deputy Commissioner's office in the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE) area.

The fire engulfed the entire factory filled with wooden pencils within moments.

Firefighters brought the fire under control with the help of a water bowser and nine fire tenders. Being Sunday, there was no loss of life in the incident.

Only a few workers were present in the factory who escaped to safety and immediately informed the fire brigade.

Officials said that the fire was sported at 6:10 pm. The smoke of the fire was visible from a distance of about one kilometre.

The fire spread to the warehouse on the ground floor of the factory. All the goods stored in the warehouse and first floor were burnt to ashes.

Firefighters faced difficulty in extinguishing the fire due to heavy smoke.

According to Fire Officer Shoaib Khan, the fire had been brought under control with the help of a bowser and nine fire tenders after a struggle of about two hours. He said that surprisingly it is such a big factory but there is no firefighting equipment in it. If there was a fire system, the fire would not have spread much.

There is no fire fighting equipment or system in most of the factories located in SITE. In response to a question, he said that the fire has been controlled but the cooling process was going on.