Fire breaks out at yarn mill, goods worth lakhs destroyed

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 31

A major fire broke out at a yarn mill on the Kakka road this morning. Goods worth lakhs were reportedly gutted in the fire.

The fire broke out at the rear of Modern Acrylics Private Limited and firefighters took more than five hours to douse the flames.

Factory workers were on duty but all escaped unhurt. The workers initially tried to douse the flames with available resources but when it went out of control, they called the Fire Department.

Aatish Rai, a sub-fire officer, claimed that a fire call was received around 9.15 am and fire tenders from Sundar Nagar reached the spot, followed by a fire tender from Vardhman mill. The factory owner said had the firefighters not controlled the fire on time, it would have spread to the entire factory.

Rai said fire officials had to call JCBs to raze the rear wall of the factory to get in as the raging fire did not allow them to douse the flames from the front side. He said over 24 fire tenders were pressed into service to control the fire till 2 pm.

The police struggled to control a crowd gathered around the factory when the firefighters were controlling the fire. The factory owner had failed to make necessary safety arrangements to protect the factory from fire. There were no fire hydrants installed due to which fire tenders had to return to the Sundar Nagar fire station to refill fire tenders. Officials said they would also check whether the factory had obtained NOC from the Fire Department or not.

Safety measures missing

The owner of Modern Acrylics Private Limited had failed to make necessary safety arrangements to protect the factory from fire. Fire hydrants were not installed due to which fire tenders had to return to the Sundar Nagar fire station to refill the vehicles. Officials said they would also check whether or not the factory had obtained an NOC from the Fire Department.