Fire at Blue Area: Quick response averts disaster

The fire was caused by diesel being transported for backup generators for the office of a telecom company.


Waqas Naeem/umer Nangiana September 15, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


Although it was put off within half an hour, the diesel-fuelled fire on Friday in the backyard of a telecom company’s office could easily have caused a disaster. The fire and rescue department reached the spot within three minutes of call, extinguishing the fire before it could spread.


No one was injured. However, the flames damaged more than five vehicles from over a dozen parked in the backyard of the three-storey building. At least two cars and a pickup truck were completely gutted, while two cars were significantly damaged in the fire.

“Fortunately none of the CNG cylinders in the cars went off or else it would have been disastrous,” said a rescue official. There were people working in the kitchens of restaurants located in a parallel building hardly a few feet away from the site of the fire. A cylinder blast could have resulted in a loss of life and property.

The cause of the fire was diesel fuel in two containers that was being transferred to the top of the building for a telecom company office’s backup generators, witnesses told the Kohsar police, who reached the site of the incident and cordoned off the area.

The containers, each three feet high, caught fire during the shifting process. The diesel in the containers spilled on the ground, spreading quickly through rainwater sewage drains to a vast area. The fire reached many parked vehicles and another generator a few feet away.

“We tried our best to save the cars by dragging them away,” Amjad Bashir, who was there at the time, told The Express Tribune. He added, “If the fire fighters had not reached the spot in time, the fire could have spread to as far as the adjacent plaza.”

Another witness, Muhammad Waqas who was working in one of the kitchens of the restaurants, said he saw the diesel drums catching fire with a spark and quickly spread.

“We first ran for shelter, fearing the cylinders in the cars would blast,” said Waqas, adding that some of the drivers present close by quickly removed their cars.

Three Capital Development Authority (CDA) fire trucks reached the spot, according to a fire truck driver. The first responder fire truck was dispatched from fire brigade headquarters, while the other two trucks arrived later from G-8 and G-5. Around 22 members of the ICT Civil Defence team were also on the spot. At least 25 outdoor air-conditioner units were completely destroyed in the fire.

The fire also damaged the outer wall of the plaza decorated with glass panes. However, it was put off before it could penetrate the building.

Later, All Traders Welfare Association staged a brief protest and blockade of Jinnah Avenue for poor safety measures for back end generators. The association’s general secretary Zubair Kiyani demanded that all such generators be secured and made soundproof. “The CDA should establish rules for this,” he added.

Kohsar police also apprehended two officials of the telecom company’s office to question them on the negligence over transport of the fuel.

Another fire, this time small, erupted in the evening in the nearby Ittehad plaza in a printing press established in the basement. It was quickly put off, said an official of the civil administration. They suspected the fire was caused by a short-circuit.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2012.

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