KARACHI: The fire which broke out in a plastic factory in Labour Square area of SITE on Sunday morning was finally contained by late afternoon.
However, labourers were not present inside the factory as it was a day off. Therefore, no loss of life has been reported.
The Police and Rangers personnel cordoned off the site of the incident to prevent passersby from coming close to the factory.
According to police and fire brigade personnel, firefighters feared the inferno could spread to a grid station of K-Electric and a CNG station situated close to the factory. The gas station was evacuated immediately.
Initially, five fire brigades were sent to the site but were not sufficient to douse the inferno, which is why more vehicles were dispatched, including water tankers.
“The inferno could be put out in two hours but they are bringing only one vehicle (fire tender) in the street at a time,” the factory owner told a media outlet. “Though more fire tenders can be parked in as it is a 60-feet broad street.”
A fire officer said six to seven fire tenders and two bowsers were being used to douse the fire. “All the available vehicles have been put to use,” he said, adding that they also ran out of foam soon into the firefighting operation.
Fire officials requested all city departments to send their fire tenders to the site to aid dousing efforts, following which vehicles were sent from the water board, Pakistan Navy and the Karachi Port Trust.
City mayor visits area:
Mayor Waseem Akhtar also visited the site of the inferno to oversee firefighting operations.
“I have not come here [to play] politics,” he said while talking to the media. “But I would [like to] request the Sindh government to make the [fire] department self-sufficient.”
Akhtar added the fire department does not have the necessary equipment to deal with such incidents, saying all the vehicles have been utilised here and in the case of an incident elsewhere in the city they would have no fire tenders to utilise.
The factory, spread over 1,500 square yards, was used to produce plastic chairs, informed officials.
In early April, fire that broke out in a residential building took 23 hours to be extinguished. The fire had erupted in the basement of a building situated in Nazimabad no 4 in the city.
It took 18 fire tenders, two bowsers and 40 hydrants to douse the fire.