Hyderabad: Units below 15 meters height escape fire department scrutiny

Hyderabad: The fire department cannot initiate action against industries whose height is below 15 meters. It may sound strange but it is a fact.

Hours after the mishap which occurred at a factory located at IDA Bolarum, the department will be writing to the licensing wing of the industries department to initiate action against the company for failing to adhere to the safety rules. The fire department personnel had battled the blaze for about three hours on Tuesday before gaining control over it.

Sridhar Reddy, District Fire Officer said, “The fire officials from the department said that they cannot initiate action against the rubber factory where the fire broke out on Tuesday night and that it would send all the reports to the licensing and police department for action. The height of the factory is less than 15 meters above the ground level, therefore we cannot initiate action against them. The fire was caused due to short circuit and the loss report which was submitted to us by the management was about Rs 7 crore.”

He said, “Generally a factory should have fire extinguishers, water pumps, hydrant system and hose pipe system. In this case, the factory had only extinguishers which are not sufficient. Based on our investigations, we shall submit the report.”

A massive fire broke out on Tuesday evening at IDA Bolarum Rubber factory. Firemen took three hours to douse the fire, and all the burning rubber materials were dumped in an open area to ensure that uneasiness is not created among the residents of the area.