Three fires reported in one day

LUDHIANA: On Monday morning, the city witnessed three major fire incidents, causing to the owners loss running into lakhs. The first fire broke out in a factory manufacturing wooden boxes at around 3 am. The factory is situated in street number 3, New Ajad Nagar, Bahadur K Road. It took six hours for the fire brigade to control the blaze while around 20 fire brigade vans were pressed into operation.
The fire spread in the factory godown where wooden boxes were kept.All the boxes caught fire and material worth lakhs was gutted. According to the factory owner Prem Chand, owing to negligence of fire department, the blaze raged on for long. He said fire brigade made it to the spot an hour late, as a result of which, a huge loss had to be borne.
He further alleged that he had been calling up the fire brigade number, but for a long time, nobody picked up the phone at the other end.
Another fire incident took place in Industrial Area-B in a cycle parts manufacturing factory Virdi International. The fire broke out at the packing unit of the factory and short-circuit is said to have caused it. The blaze was controlled in two-and-a-half hours with the help of five fire brigade vans.
According to the factory owner Sunny, prior to the fire, there took place a major blast, which was so powerful that it shattered the windowpanes of the factory. He said they had kept machines and manufactured cycle parts in the packing units that were gutted.
In another incident, truck-full of straw used in manufacturing of furniture caught fire in the furniture market near the bus-stand. The reasons behind the fire are yet to be ascertained. The fire caused loss to the truck as well as furniture and raw material kept in the carrier.