Fire guts two Ghaziabad factories, 20 engines battle blaze for 12 hours

Ghaziabad: A major fire, caused by a suspected short circuit, gutted two factories in the Kotwali area on Thursday night, an officer of the fire department said. Chief fire officer Rahul Pal said the flames were doused after a 12-hour operation and cooling is still underway. No casualties have been reported, he added.
According to Pal, at around 8.56pm on Thursday, the Kotwali fire station received information about a fire at Arvind Chemicals Paint Factory and Saral Scrap, near Meerut Road. Four fire engines from the Kotwali and Vaishali fire stations were dispatched to control the blaze.Pal told TOI that upon reaching the spot, the teams observed the fire was spreading rapidly. Thick black smoke was obstructing visibility and dousing operations. "Due to the intense heat, the structure of one factory, which was a tin shed, collapsed completely, preventing water from reaching the fire directly. A side wall had also collapsed. The factory wall was broken and toppled from both sides and the tin shed was removed so that firefighting operations could continue. We called for more fire tenders from Sahibabad, Modinagar and Loni," he said.Pal said the situation became worse when the fire reached drums containing flammable chemicals. The CFO said more units from Noida, Hapur and Meerut were called to join the operations. "A total of 20 fire vehicles were deployed in the operations. The team's swift action prevented damage to at least five to six nearby factories," Pal said.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !