Chennai: A fire that broke out on Wednesday at an air-conditioner storage godown ravaged goods worth nearly Rs 17 lakhs stored in the facility at Vanagaram. No one was injured in the incident.
Eight fire tenders pressed into service from the city and adjoining areas put out the fire after five hours. The cause of the fire is suspected to be an electrical short circuit. An extensive investigation has been launched by the firm parallel to the investigation by police.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire, which started from the inside of the building, spread to the roof and the entire building was engulfed in flames in minutes. The asbestos roofing became fuel to the raging fire and it collapsed inward even as fire-fighting was underway.
The facility, which primarily stored air-conditioners, had also stocked other home appliances including air-coolers and induction stoves. The melted plastic from the appliances kept feeding the fire steadily.
The fire tenders from Ambattur, Maduravoyal, Koyambedu, Poonamallee, JJ Nagar and Kilpauk were roped in one after the other. The fire was prevented from spreading to other buildings in the vicinity.
“Had it spread to a chemical company in the neighbourhood, it would have become a Herculean task to curtail it”, a TNFRS official told Deccan Chronicle.
The pungent odour from the fire accident hit motorists using the Maduravoyal bypass and smoke billowed out from the building causing irritation to the eyes of motorists. Some of them pulled over to get a photo grab of the raging fire in their cellphones and eagerly shared the images on social networking sites. A case had been registered by the Maduravoyal police station and further investigations are on.
