Major fire at NCL, no casualties

Major fire broke out at one of the plant at National Chemical Laboratory on Tuesday. Though the fire is under control, police and fire brigade are trying to douse it completely.

Prashant Ranpise, chief fire brigade officer, Pune Municipal Corporaton, said, “We received a call from NCL at 8.42 pm on Tuesday that major fire was broke out at NCL. We have sent five fire tenders and two tankers till now. The fire is not doused completely. But it is under control.”

Prabhakar Ingale, spokesperson, NCL, said, “The fire broke out on the ground and first floor of the Plant III. Industrial research is being done in this area which spread over 3000 sq fts,” he said.

“As of now we do not have any idea on how does the fire broke out and what will be the losses. Now our focus is to douse the fire completely.”

Dayanand Dhome, police inspector, Chatushringi, said, “Nobody was present at the plant as it was 9 pm. Hence nobody got injured. Fire is under control now. We yet to know how does the fire broke out at this plant. Once fire is doused we will find out reason.”

Security guard at the duty said, “At around 8.30 we saw smoke coming out of the windows of this plant and realised that that fire was on the floor. We immediately informed Fire Brigade and police.”

The National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) is an Indian government laboratory based in Pune. Popularly known as NCL, a constituent member of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) India, it was established in 1950.

There are approximately 200 scientific staff are working here.