BHOPAL: A major fire broke out in a plastic furniture manufacturing factory called “Century Mouldings Private Limited” near Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) plant, Chhola Road under Gautam Nagar police station on Thursday.
Gas cylinders used in the factory blew off, triggering panic in the residential colonies around. Smoke billowed and spread all the over sky. Eateries and tea stalls which were just adjacent to the factory also turned into ashes as fire spread.
Fire brigade was called in immediately but as it was a congested area, fire engines had to struggle hard to access the spot. Residential colonies were got vacated.
According to information, fire suddenly erupted in the factory. The stock of chemicals, adhesive and wood helped fire spread very fast. Fire engines immediately rushed to the spot after getting information.
Fire in-charge Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Sajid Khan said, “We got the information around 4:00 pm. The fire was so huge that smoke could be seen from many kilometers away. We had to deploy 35 fire fighters and make 60 trips to douse the fire. The operation took over 3 hours.”
Century Moulding Private Limited director Santosh Girdhani said, “I am not in position to assess the loss and damage right now. My entire factory has turned into ashes.”
SHO Mukhtar Qureshi said, “One person was scalded by molten plastic. Barring him, there were no casualties. Fire extinguishing operation continued for over three hours.”
