KOCHI: Smoke engulfed Kammattipadam after a tract of forest land near the railway line in the locality caught fire on Friday. Train services on the line were suspended for almost an hour as officers of the Fire and Rescue Service Department tried to douse the blaze.
Officials with the Gandhi Nagar fire station said a distress call was received at 4.05pm.“The railway officials were alerted and train services were suspended. The place where the fire broke out is located behind the CBI quarters at Pullepady where rail lines from Ernakulam North railway station divert towards Kottayam and Ernakulam South railway station,” said an official.He said they had to walk nearly 800m from the road to reach the spot.“The fire started from dry bushes and quickly spread due to the heavy wind. Some trees also got burnt,” he said.
I
initial attempts to extinguish the fire by beating the flames with branches failed. When the fire spread, eight long pipes were used to pump water from fire tenders parked near the Pullepady area.
“While the operation was on, a train accidentally came close. However, the loco-pilot engaged the brakes and stopped the train. We were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the residential area nearby. However, smoke engulfed the nearby homes, including the CBI quarters,” said the official.
Around 11 officials of the Gandhi Nagar fire station and two fire tenders were pressed to extinguish the fire. The situation was brought under control around 5.15pm, after more than an hour. Train services also resumed later.
Anti-socials involved
The officials suspect the fire was set by some anti-social elements who are a regular sighting in the area. “As the area is inaccessible and forested, people use it for drug abuse and anti-social activities. We found several liquor bottles and cigarette buds at the place. When we arrived, we also saw some people running away. We suspect the fire broke out because a cigarette or beedi was not extinguished properly,” said the officer.