Blazes in Tyre Manufacturing unit and Hosiery Unit: Two fires in Ludhiana in a day

A fire in a tyre manufacturing unit, Hindustan Tyres & Tubes on RK Road near MD Oswal Hospital & another fire in a Shivani Oswal Hosiery unit near Tibba Road.

Due to power crisis in Punjab state government has imposed two day off therefore no workers were present in the factory.

But 12 workers had narrow escape from the flames in Shivani Oswal Hosiery but casualty reported.  

The promptness of fire is worth praising as they responded to back to back fire calls with alertness. 30 fire fighters and 16 fire tenders brought in action to douse simultaneous fire incidents.

It is reported that 13 fire tenders were deputed to  tyre factory and 3 to Kirpal Nagar. It was six hour long exercise to douse fire in tyre factory and containing fire was two and half hour job.

At around 4 pm the fire was seen and it rapidly spread to the other part of the factory due to strong wind. Thick smoke from afar could be seen billowing from the place of incident.  

At around 4:20pm security guard raised the alarm and fire brigade was informed. Soon after noticing the fire the guard tried to douse it using fire extinguishers but attempt  was not effective as strong guishing wind kept it spreading.

By the time blaze was brought under control machinery & shed worth crores perished. Collapsing shed, iron and steel had made entire operation difficult.

At around 5:30 another fire broke out in a hosiery unit due to short circuit. The unit was operational when incident happened. The losses had not been ascertained till the report was compiled.

Lack of fire safety arrangements

Officials informed fire safety was lacking in both the units. “Only a few fire extinguishers were installed at the units, which were not sufficient. As there were no fire hydrants or even a water tank at a tyre manufacturing unit, we had to arrange water from a nearby hospital to save time. If not for the hospital, the fire brigade would have had to fill the tenders from a nearby municipal corporation tubewell,” a fire official said.