CHENNAI:A fire broke out at a storehouse at Alapakkam Main Road and around 40 firefighters were kept on their toes for over five hours before it was put out here on Friday.
According to an official from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescues Services, the blaze was caused by an electrical short-circuit. No one was injured, he said.
“Apart from the owner, there were about 15 staff members in the storehouse when the fire broke out. They alerted the fire service,” the official told Express.
Six fire-tenders attached to Virugambakkam, Madhuravoyal, Koyambedu, Ashok Nagar, Guindy and Poonamallee rushed to the spot. According to the official, the storehouse was located near the Arcot Road junction.
The godown housed materials such as rye, bamboo sticks, palmyra leaves, and other ‘highly combustible’ items required for construction of thatched houses.
The fire is believed to have originated from sparks in the air-conditioning unit, lighting up a pile of palmyra leaves, he said.
It soon spread to the backyard and all the items were destroyed in the raging fire that sent smoke billowing out.
Since some of the material were highly combustible, it took almost five hours to put the fire out. The fire personnel had to remove piles of unaffected palmyra leaves also to prevent the flames from spreading further, the official said.
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