Fire guts garments factory in Okhla, firefighter injured
A 48-year-old firefighter was injured during a fire rescue operation at a garments’ exports factory in south Delhi’s Okhla Industrial area on Saturday morning.
The blaze that started around 7am gutted the two-storey factory. Clothes, machines and other items worth lakhs of rupees were completely damaged, said police.
Twenty fire tenders and around 50 fire fighters were pressed into service to control the flames that started due to a short circuit on the ground floor of the building.
The flames spread fast due to the presence of articles such as clothes, papers and cartons.
By the time fire tenders arrived, the flames had engulfed the entire factory, said fire officials.
Atul Garg, chief fire officer of Delhi Fire Services, (DFS) said the fire broke out at the garment export company in Okhla Industrial area phase-1.
“Our control room received a call about the fire in Aakarsh exports factory. Clothes, paper and carton material caught fire,” said Garg.
To ensure safety of people, fire officials along with police personnel cordoned off the entire area and evacuated those working in adjacent buildings.
During the fire rescue operation, a fireman, Ram Ratan, sustained injuries after a portion of the roof top collapsed and fell on his back.
He suffered injuries and was taken to ESI hospital in Okhla from where he was referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.
“Ratan is a constable in DFS posted at the Sarita Vihar fire station. His condition was to be stable,” Garg said.
The fire was brought under control around 10.30 am. The factory owner was out of Delhi when the incident took place. “Arounf 100-150 workers worked at the factory”, said a worker Sona Lal.