Cotton godown destroyed in fire

Five cattle farms were also destroyed in a fire in Bhains Colony

KARACHI: Less than 24 hours after five fires broke out in different parts of the city on Thursday, another two engulfed a cotton godown in SITE and five cattle farms in Bhains Colony. 

A cotton warehouse in Rasheedabad, SITE, caught fire on Friday. Due to the intensity of the blaze, fire tenders were immediately summoned. According to the fire brigade's spokesperson, a fire broke out in Rafiq Enterprises' godown and was extinguished in an hour. He said that six fire tenders were sent out to douse the fire. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.



Earlier in the day, five dairy farms were destroyed in another fire at the city's largest dairy farm located in Bhains Colony, Bin Qasim Town. Before the firefighters could reach the site, the employees of the cattle farms evacuated the area and saved several buffalos from being burnt alive.

The fire started at a dairy farm owned by a man, called Qureshi. The fire brigade spokesperson said that the farms were built from bamboo and wood. He added that these material caught fire easily. It took fire fighters at least two hours to put the fire out.

Burning up

On Thursday, the first fire of 2015 engulfed a furniture market on Munawar Chowrangi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Less than 60 minutes later, another fire broke out at Madho Goth, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Later, another blaze erupted at a private godown in Gulshan-e-Maymar around 3pm. An hour later, Baldia Town's Mawach Goth was consumed by flames.

Compensation

Talking about those affected in the timber market blaze, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah claimed on Thursday that Rs100,000 would be given to each family as compensation for daily expenses till an assessment was carried out.

At the meeting it was decided that three committees would be formed to work on the timber market incident. The first committee will finalise the list of displaced families and organise the initial compensation of Rs100,000. The second one will work with government representative and timber merchants to assess their loss. The last committee will work with the fire department and others to assess the residential building structures to see if they will be repaired or rebuilt.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2014.