A major fire broke out in a paint factory in Cossipore on Sunday evening. At least 22 fire-fighters were pressed into action to bring the fire under control. There was no report of any casualty or persons being trapped inside the factory, but an adjacent godown to store paint produced in the factory also caught fire, the police said.
According to the locals, fire was spotted in this paint factory situated on Lock-Gate road in north Kolkata around 5.50 pm. The sources said, the incident sparked tension as the factory is situated adjacent to a slum and the railway station for which the locals first tried to douse the fire. However, the locals complained that despite informing the fire-brigade, the tenders came late by almost an hour. “We first engaged 20 fire-tenders first in fighting the blaze. The fire-tenders also faced problems to enter the exact location due to narrow space and overcrowded area. Later we also pumped in water from Hooghly river,” state disaster management, fire and emergency services minister Javed Khan said after reaching the spot.
Moreover, the central and North Kolkata were left inundated due to heavy spell in late afternoon causing severe traffic snarls which also left some of the fire-fighters stranded in various places. The minister admitted that some came late due to this.
Meanwhile, the fire officials said that the primary reason for this fire was short circuit. “Being a paint factory, large amounts of combustible raw materials were being stacked which accelerated the fire. It is also unclear whether there was any fire-fighting measure inside the factory,” the fire official said.
The police said the area was cordoned off and traffic diverted to facilitate fire-fighting, which led to a huge traffic snarl in the surrounding areas.