Fire services return to Pilerne factory to contain fresh fumes

Panaji: A week after a huge fire erupted at the Berger Becker Coatings factory at Pilerne Industrial Estate, the fire and emergency services was called in yet again to contain fumes emanating from the same spot.
Fire and emergency services were able to control the fumes and said there was no fire emanating from the site. To prevent any further incident, the department has stationed one fire tender at the spot from Tuesday to attend to any eventualities.
The smoke began emanating after some chemicals came into contact with burnt residual particles of the fire while people were clearing out the factory.
The huge inferno that began on January 10 was the largest fire Goa has seen and required reinforcements from several other fire stations and assistance from the Army, Navy, Mormugao Port Authority with the police and all line departments roped in to control the disaster.
Over 12 lakh litres of water and 5,000 litres of foam were used to control the blaze that engulfed the paint factory as the fire fed on chemicals, solvents and paints stored at the Berger Becker Coatings factory at the industrial estate and took more than 24 hours to put out. The fumes cast black clouds over several parts of North Goa forcing neighbouring villagers to evacuate.