Major fire breaks out at chemical factory in Sonipat, situation under control now: Official

Methanol and some other chemicals were kept in the factory, a police official from Sonipat said

A major fire broke out on Sunday at a chemical factory in Kundli industrial area of Haryana's Sonipat district and more than 20 workers were evacuated and the situation brought under control, a top official said.

Nearly 20 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, which have now subsided and the fire should be brought fully under control by late in the night, Sonipat Deputy Commissioner Lalit Siwach told PTI over the phone.

Fire tenders from Kundli and nearby areas, including Narela in Delhi, Haryana's Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Sonipat, Samalkha and Panipat were summoned to douse the flames, he said.

"The factory is related to making peppermint oil and ancillary chemicals, all of which are used in making toothpaste," he said.

Siwach said more than 20 people were working in the factory at the time of the incident, "but all were evacuated in time".

Meanwhile, the Sonipat district administration faced the problem that a GAIL gas pipeline ran nearby and high temperatures caused by the burning chemicals could have resulted in a mishap, but timely action prevented any untoward incident from happening.

"There is a gas pipeline of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), which runs close to the factory where the fire broke out. There is a possibility that in case of high temperatures, a mishappening could have happened. We immediately called GAIL engineers and fire officers and the supply in the pipeline was stopped as a precautionary measure," Siwach said.

Earlier, a police official from Kundli, Sonipat had said about 50 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, but the DC said many were kept on standby mode just in case the fire would have spread to other units in the vicinity of the chemical factory.

There were garments and other chemical factories located in the area, he pointed out.

Siwach said a strategy was adopted not to solely focus on controlling the fire in the factory, but some fire tenders were engaged in spraying water so as to keep the walls of the adjoining units cool and prevent the flames from spreading.

"Had the fire spread, it could have been a disastrous situation," Siwach, who had earlier also served as chief fire officer with the Chandigarh administration, said.

In the factory where the fire broke out, there were big explosions in the chemical drums and flames were visible from a considerable distance.

The cause of the fire is not immediately known, though Siwach said, "Most likely, it was caused by an electric short-circuit."

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