THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A fire and rescue department official was killed in action while trying to douse a major fire outbreak at the district warehouse of the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) at KINFRA park in Menamkulam in the early hours of Tuesday.
This is the second fire outbreak in a KMSCL district warehouse in the last one week. A similar fire had erupted at the KMSCL warehouse in Kollam last Wednesday.
J S Renjith, 32, a fireman attached to Chackai fire station died when a portion of the building fell on him while he was fighting fire.
Renjith sustained serious injuries and was pulled out of the rubble with great difficulty. Though he was rushed to a private hospital in the city, he passed away by 3.50 am. Renjith is a native of Attingal and had joined the force six years ago.
The blaze was first noticed by 1.30 am in the area where chemicals were stored. It’s assessed that the fire could have erupted from the spot where bleaching powder was kept. The fire was accompanied by loud explosions and only a security staff was present at the spot when the accident occurred.
KMSCL sources said there were four separate rooms within the building that got gutted. About 30,000 kg of bleaching powder was kept in one of the rooms, while 16 other medical ingredients that have crossed the expiry date, including sanitizer and surgical spirit, were kept in the rest of the rooms.
Fire and rescue services director general B Sandhya, who visited the site, said the initial assessment was that the fire could have erupted after water or alcohol got mixed with bleaching powder stored at the place.
She revealed that the building did not have a no-objection certificate from her department and passed the buck on the police to find out if there was any mystery behind the incidents in Menamkulam as well as in Kollam.
Twelve fire and rescue services units from the district were deployed to fight the blaze, which was contained in two hours’ time.
HEALTH MINISTER ORDERS INVESTIGATION
T’Puram: As the Opposition cried foul at the frequency of fire accidents at drug warehouses owned by Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSCL), Health Minister Veena George ordered an investigation into the blaze incident at Kinfra Park in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. She said the second fire accident came at a time when the KMSCL was asked to be more vigilant about its drug warehouses after the first incident in Kollam.
“The recent accident happened when an inspection was under way. I have directed the officials to carry out a forensic probe too. The warehouses in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram are over a decade old,” the minister said in a statement. She said a forensic report on the fire accident in the warehouse in Kollam is awaited.