Accidental fire destroys bus, scrapyards at Nayandahalli

A private air-conditioned bus, four scrapyards and about 50 makeshift sheds were gutted in a major fire that broke out at ITI Layout in Nayandahalli early Tuesday morning.

As many as 30 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire. A team of over 100 firemen battled for 10 hours and doused the fire, said the police. Materials destroyed in the mishap are estimated to be worth around Rs 45 lakh. The cause for the fire is yet to be ascertained, police said. The scrapyards are owned by Ziaulla and Aslam Pasha.

The fire broke out at around 1.45 am at one of the scrapyards and spread to other three scrapyards, the station where air-conditioned buses were serviced and repaired and finally to the makeshift sheds, police said. The service station was owned by Prathap Reddy.

A few local residents noticed smoke and informed the police and the fire personnel. Two private buses were parked at the station for  servicing. One of them was completely gutted, while the other was partially burnt before firemen reached the spot.

Plastic materials, chemicals, empty water bottles and iron materials were stored at the scrapyards. Hence, it was very difficult for the firemen to douse the fire. The workers inside the sheds came out safely before the fire could spread, said the police.

The firemen completely doused the fire by 11.45 am. None of the scrapyards had power connection. Hence, electric short circuit is not the cause for the fire, police said.

The situation was tense for a while as local residents presumed that miscreants had set buses on fire against the Supreme Court’s direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. DCP (West) M N Anucheth visited the spot for inspection. He told the residents that the buses were gutted in an accidental fire.