Ludhiana: Fire at garments manufacturing unit

Fire officer Srishti Nath said that fire was under control and it took more ten hours for firemen to control the flames. “Smoke is still rising from the gutted building but flames have been almost doused. As a precautionary measure, two fire tenders will be deployed here for some more hours,” he said, adding that twelve tenders were re-filled with water at least a hundred times to control the flames.

He added that fire department received a call around 9.35 am and fire tenders were rushed to the spot. “As soon as some workers opened the factory in opening and switched on the electricity meter, there was sparking on third floor and short circuit led to the fire. However, no workers were stuck inside and they moved out quickly,” he said.

Some workers on third floor moved to terrace and then jumped to neighboring buildings’ terrace as soon as flames intensified, sources said.

Stock, raw material and machinery worth lakhs is said to have been gutted in the fire.

Ludhiana Mayor Balkar Sandhu, MC commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur and Ludhiana central MLA Surinder Dawar also visited the spot.

Mayor Sandhu said that he got information regarding shortage of water with fire department but it was a false alarm. “I came to check if firemen had enough water,” he said.

Again firemen were seen dousing flames without safety gears. They faced problems in reaching third floor as despite multiple promises, local bodies department has failed to provide a hydraulic ladder to Ludhiana Fire Department even as industrial city witnesses major fire incident every few days.