Huge stock of incense sticks destroyed in fire

A large quantity of incense sticks were destroyed in a major fire in Chamarajpet on Saturday night. As many as 20 fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was doused after 12 hours. There were no casualties in the mishap, said the Chamarajpet police.

There was nobody inside the unit when the incident took place and the cause of the fire mishap is yet to be ascertained. The value of the property destroyed is not known, the police added.

The fire broke out at Anantha Agarabathi Company’s incense sticks manufacturing unit owned by Anantha Rama Gupta on I Main, IV Cross, Chamarajpet around 9.50 pm on Saturday. 

A few locals noticed the fire and informed the police station close by. The police called up the fire force personnel.

“We received the fire alert around 10 pm and rushed 20 fire tenders. It is a two-storeyed building and the fire had spread all over the two floors and the firemen had a tough time even breaking open the shutters,” deputy director (Fire) K U Ramesh told Deccan Herald.

There was hardly any space for the firemen to enter as a large number of packed bundles were stored. As water in 20 fire tenders was exhausted, they were sent back for refilling. 

Around 100 firemen had a tough time extinguishing the fire, said the police.“There were wrappers, bundles and sticks and hence the fire spread all over the two floors and dense smoke made the job of dousing the fire tough. The fire was brought under control around 10 am on Sunday,” Ramesh added.

The Chamarajpet police have registered a case against Gupta under IPC Section 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible mat­ter) and are questioning him, added the police.

The fire department staff are ascertaining if Gupta had followed fire safety norms.