CHENNAI: Residents of Erukkanchery High Road in Madhavaram continued to suffer on Sunday as smoke billowed from a chemical warehouse, where a fire broke out on Saturday afternoon.
Over 18 fire tenders and over 1,000 personnel battled hard to bring the fire under control on Sunday. Though the fire was controlled, smoke continued to cause problems.
The accident brought safety measures or the lack of it in the limelight. Sources in Fire and Rescue Services department said the company had not renewed fire safety licence and lacked safety gadgets and other precautionary measures.
“The warehouse has only one entry which made it extremely difficult for us to enter. We had to gain access through nearby buildings,” said an officer. The warehouse is spread over 20,000 sq ft, which is divided into outdoor and indoor storage.
The officer said a basic safety feature in such warehouses is to compartmentalise chemical substances, which the company seems to have not followed. “Large quantities of highly inflammable chemicals should be kept separately.” The warehouse allegedly did not have sprinklers and fire-detection alarm. “The staff who spotted the fire alerted others and they tried to douse the fire. Had there been a fire detection device, sprinklers would have gone off.”
The fire broke out around 2.45 pm due to a suspected electrical short-circuit. “We have been here since 3 pm on Saturday and though we took a break our eyes have started watering due to the smoke,” said a fire personnel.C Sylendra Babu, DGP, holding additional charge of Fire and Rescue Services said there was no loss of life. “We have doused the fire and prevented it from spreading to nearby industries. Also, the challenges was that apart from water we had to spray foam to douse the flames.”
The incident
The fire broke out around 2.45 pm due to a suspected electrical short-circuit. Fire personnel have been deployed since 3 pm on Saturday