Goods worth lakhs destroyed in fire at paper mill godown

Goods worth over Rs 50 lakh were destroyed in a major fire that broke out in the godown of a paper mill on Laggere Main Road in Peenya 3rd Stage, late on Monday night. Thirteen fire tenders were rushed to douse the fire. 

About 40 firemen took more than 12 hours to douse the blaze. There were no casualties in the mishap, said officers from the Fire department.

Christy, a factory worker, noticed thick smoke billowing out of the premises of Rao Traders.

He rushed in and alerted as many as 40 workers, who were sleeping inside. He called the fire control room immediately, said the police.

It was a difficult task for the firemen to gain entry due to heavy flames and thick smoke. They used earthmovers and demolished a wall to enter the premises.

A few minutes later, they had to face another problem when the water in the fire tenders was exhausted.

However, they managed to get water from neighbouring factories and resumed operations, said the police.

Electric short circuit is suspected to have triggered the mishap. The factory is owned by Sridhar Rao and Srinath Rao, the police added.