RANCHI: A massive fire broke out in the furnishing department behind the wire rope division of the Usha Martin factory at Tatisilve on Monday noon. It is suspected that sparks during welding started the fire.
The fire spewed smoke up to 200 feet and is said to have covered the nearby area.
As soon as information was received, fire engines reached the spot and tried to douse the fire. After a lot of effort, five fire tenders brought the fire under control after two hours.
According to an insider, no casualty was reported though the financial loss might be significant.
In the evening, Usha Martin also issued an official statement.
"A fire broke out in a shed of Usha Martin's Ranchi factory today. Our Emergency Response Team immediately reached the spot. The fire was controlled by taking the incident area under a security cordon. In this, the Ranchi Fire Brigade also extended its full cooperation. No person has suffered any kind of injury in this incident. As per the security protocol, the concerned authorities were immediately informed about the incident. The loss caused by this incident is being assessed. As a responsible corporate, we are committed to safe operations," the statement read.
The Ranchi-based facility of Usha Martin's is one of the world's largest wire rope manufacturing units. Spread across an area of more than 100 acres, this facility is also the company's first manufacturing facility that was set up in 1961.
This facility is equipped with state-of-the-art, high-capacity machines used to manufacture world-class products.
Special-grade wire rods, selected after stringent quality checks, are processed through modern pickling, patenting and galvanizing facilities. This is then followed by wire drawing, stranding and closing to produce high-performance wires, strands and wire ropes suitable for multiple applications.
The wire ropes manufactured in this plant range between 1.5 mm to 155 mm in thickness.