Hyderabad: Fire at thermocol unit, no casualties

 Hyderabad: Massive fire broke out at a thermocol manufacturing factory in Gaganpahad under Shamshabad police station limits on Wednesday evening. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.

The fire broke out at Rangoli EPS Private Limited Company in Madhuban Colony of Gaganpahad around 5.20 pm. Immediately, the locals alerted the fire department.

Six fire tenders and police rushed to the scene within 20 minutes, but by then fire had already spread in the unit which housed plastic raw material, Shamshabad police said adding that the material were completely gutted.

Police and firefighters evacuated the locals living nearby to the unit to safer places. Simultaneously, another team of firefighters already started to extinguish the fire from other side. As the firefighters tried to enter from the side boundary to gain access, they had a tough time because the tin sheds collapsed on the raw material helping the fire to spread, an official said.

The firefighters first studied the topography of the unit, grounded up the unit and tried to enter from the front side that is constructed over 2,000 square yards, sources in the fire department said.

With high flames, the supporting rods to the tin shed fell on the burning raw material due to which our firefighters had to struggle a lot, B. Srinivas, ADFO said. There was only property loss and no casualties, he added. However the firefighters managed to extinguish the fire and took control of the situation by 7.20 pm.

Fire Department and GHMC arranged three JCBs to pull over the debris after the fire totally got into control, a firefighter said.

Shamshabad police registered a case and are making efforts to identify the owner of the company. During preliminary investigation, we suspect that a short circuit might have initiated the fire, a police officer said.