Factories gutted in Udyog Nagar

NEWDELHI: A massive fire gutted two footwear manufacturing units in outer Delhi’s Udyog Nagar on Sunday. The occupants of the two buildings had escaped in the nick of time and there were no casualties, said police.

A fire department officer said parts of the buildings had collapsed because of the blaze and the civic body has been advised to demolish the structures.

The fire department said they received information at 4.35 am after which they sent 30 fire tenders. The blaze had begun on the upper floor of a two-storey footwear manufacturing unit constructed on a 1,100 square yard plot.

“The fire soon spread to the adjacent factory. Before we could control the blaze, both the buildings had been gutted,” said Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, Delhi Fire Services.

Garg said firefighters couldn’t enter the buildings as they were full of combustible material. “The buildings had developed cracks soon after the blaze and it was risky for us to enter them.,” said Garg.

The fire was controlled at 10.40 am, but the firefighters spent the entire day battling small fires that were frequently spotted inside the building. Cooling operations continued until late in the evening. A senior police officer said that the cause of the fire is being ascertained and a case being registered.