The fire, which is believed to have caused major losses, was brought under control after an operation that lasted for four hours.A major fire broke out at a chemical processing factory located in the industrial cluster at Kurkumbh, off Pune-Solapur Road, in the early hours of Thursday. It took eight fire tenders from various agencies more than four hours to bring the fire under control, said officials.
The fire station in the Kurkumbh MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) area received a call about a major fire on the premises of a chemical processing unit around at about 1.45 am on Thursday.
“We received information about a fire at Shivshakti Oxalate company in the industrial cluster. We first dispatched the two fire tenders with us. After getting to know of the intensity of the fire, we called for additional tenders from Baramati MIDC, Jejuri municipality, Pune Municipal Corporation and also that from a private company. As the unit had been storing many types of solvents, which are highly flammable, the fire went on spreading for a while across its premises. It took eight tenders and additional tankers more than four hours to control the fire,” said Kurkumbh MIDC Fire Station Officer Sudhir Khandekar.
“There were 10 staffers and workers on the premises when the fire started. They all managed to come out safely before we reached. There were two dogs stuck in their kennels. Our firemen rescued the two canines amidst blazing fire. As to the cause, there is a possibility of the fire having been started due to an short circuit at a particular point, resulting in the solvents catching fire. Many drums of the solvents aggravated the fire further,” added Khandekar.
A major fire was reported from another industrial unit in the same area in the third week of May this year.
Pune District Collector Rajesh Deshmukh said, “I had sought a report from the concerned industrial safety and MIDC officials. Their primary report points to a short circuit as the primary cause of the fire. We will be issuing directives to concerned agencies and stakeholders to take steps for averting such incidents in the future.”
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