A massive fire broke out on Tuesday morning at a footwear manufacturing factory in Lawrence Road industrial area near Keshavpuram in northwest Delhi gutting raw materials worth lakhs, fire department officials and police officers said. Nobody was injured in the incident, they said.
Delhi Fire Services (DFS) director Atul Garg said the fire started around 8.30am and was mostly controlled by 1.30pm, though the cooling operation went on till evening. At least 10 people were working in the four-storey factory when the fire broke out. However, they all rushed out of the factory building as soon as the blaze started, officials said.
“A total of 23 fire tenders were used to douse the flames. The fire had engulfed the entire factory. Our 50 firefighters took around five hours to control the fire,” said Garg.
Though the fire officials are yet to ascertain the reason behind the fire, they suspect that it may have started because of a short-circuit. The fire officials said they are still investigating if the factory had violated any fire safety norms.
Divisional fire officer( west zone), Mukesh Verma, said the machines used for manufacturing footwear and some plastic materials were kept on the factory’s ground and first floor, while raw materials and the end products were stored on the remaining floors.
“The staircase was also blocked with the plastic materials which allowed the fire to spread rapidly and engulf the entire building. Around 10 workers who were inside had safely rushed out before our firefighters reached the spot,” said the divisional officer.
He added that three adjacent factory buildings were evacuated as a precautionary step during the firefighting operation.
Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said they were waiting for a complaint from the factory owner regarding the incident. “Further action would be taken accordingly,” she said.
