The efforts are still on to control a massive fire that broke out at a fuel tank farm of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) located on the Butcher Island off the east coast of Mumbai last evening. (Source: ANI/Twitter)
The efforts are still on to control a massive fire that broke out at a fuel tank farm of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) located on the Butcher Island off the east coast of Mumbai last evening, news agency PTI reported while citing a top fire brigade official. He said that even though the firefighters had brought the blaze under control, the “excessive heat” led to reignition at the tank around 4.30 am today. A video of the incident was posted by the news agency ANI on its Twitter handle in which the massive fire can be seen.
According to officials, the fire had broken out around 5 pm yesterday when Mumbai and the surrounding areas witnessed thundershowers. However, no causality was reported. “Excessive heat caused reignition around 4.30 am today. Firefighting, as well as the cooling operations, are on. Foam and other extinguishing agents are being used for the purpose,” Mumbai fire brigade chief P S Rahangdale was quoted saying by PTI. He further added that the firefighters of MbPT, as well as the fire brigade team, are working in tandem to douse the blaze.
Rahangdale told the agency that the fire brigade personnel involved in the firefighting operation through the night have been relieved and new staff have been deployed there. “There has been a good coordination between Mumbai fire brigade personnel and the MbPT fire service team. The fire brigade team had reached around 10 feet near the blaze-hit tank, but reignition at dawn has posed a new challenge before us. However, the blaze is under control,” he said.
#WATCH: Fire continues to rage at Mumbai’s Butcher Island; fuel tankers placed here caught fire last night, fire fighting ops underway. pic.twitter.com/c6Te0ltD7u
— ANI (@ANI) October 7, 2017
“I am monitoring the operation. Because of the heat, the foam (used as an extinguisher) is not settling down, this is causing reignition. But overall, the situation is under control,” Rahangdale said but did not specify how long the firefighting operation would continue. “Our main challenge is to keep the other tanks near the affected one safe. So, on one hand our firemen are involved in cooling operations to keep other tanks safe, while on the other, they are also engaged in dousing the flames,” he told PTI.
