Mumbai: A Level-3 fire erupted at a Kurla scrap area on Tuesday morning and gutted 10 godownswithin five hours. Plumes of thick smoke billowed for hours later, fuelling a wave of fear among the residential neighbourhood. The godown owners reported no casualties but spoke of huge financial and material losses.
The fire brigade department said the blaze broke out at 3.10am near Mayakkam Temple on Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link road. It was confined to electric wiring, electric installations, scrapand wooden material, oil drums, plastic and refuse material in an open ground. It was doused by 8.43am. A fire officer said that the conflagration took time to control owing to combustible material like wooden items, oil containers and plastic.
This is not the first fire incident in the area. Almost 18 months ago, a fire had erupted in the same place and drums containing oil and chemicals had exploded. Sources said that some action is initiated only after such an incident. The BMC has demolished scrap slums, godownsand shops several times but no action is taken against owners and incidents therefore continue to occur.
