Cylinder blasts cause fire at hutments in Deonar

MUMBAI: A massive fire broke out in over 50 hutments and a slipper making factory at Gautam Nagar near Deonar on the wee hours of Friday morning. Two persons including a fire officer suffered minor burns on account of the blaze.
At 3am on Friday Mumbai fire brigade received a call about a fire break out in numerous hutments at Gautam Nagar plot no 4.Around 16 fire engines and 8 water tankers were rushed to the spot to douse the flames. Locals said that the fire started from a chappal making factory in the locality which has stored hazardous chemicals in it. It is learned that there were prosecution notices which had been served to the chappal factory in September and October 2015 for operating without license by the civic body. After the incident the local ward office plans to commence a drive against seizure of illegal cylinders in the area.
Sana Khan a local from the area whose house was also burned down said, “The fire started from the chapel factory initially and spread quickly to the adjoining hutments. We quickly managed to escape out unhurt.”
There were four commercial cylinders as well within the factory which blasted on account of the fire. Chief Fire Officer P.Rahangdale said that the cause of the fire is under investigation. “Our first aim was to stop the fire from spreading further. There was huge congestion due to which it was getting difficult for the fire tenders as well to reach the spot of the incident. A person ran in to the fire to bring out their belongings and our fire officer immediately went to pull him put. In the bargain both suffered minor injuries,” said Rahangdale. The fire brigade plans to initiate an FIR against the gas dealer for illegal supply of gas cylinder and also plans to sent a letter to the gas company to take serious cognizance of the matter.
The assistant municipal commissioner of M-east ward Kiran Dighavkar said that those persons whose houses have been burned had been shifted to a municipal school at Shivaji Nagar area. “Around 50 families have been evacuated from the incident spot. We seized around four cylinders from the spot,” said Dighavkar.