A major fire broke out at a fertilizer factory at Jhautala area of Madhyamgram on late Thursday night triggering panic among the local residents.
Some fire brigade personnel were injured while extinguishing the blaze. Three fire brigade personnel were admitted to a private hospital in Barasat after they received injuries in the incident.
Around 41 fire tenders were swung into action to douse the flame. Local residents spotted smoke billowing out of the factory’s ground floor, which soon spread to first and second floor.
As the factory was situated in the congested area, the fire officials faced difficulties in reaching the spot.
The employees of the factory and the local residents initially took part in the rescue operation and tried to douse the flames.
They failed to do so as the intensity of the fire was huge. Around 6 fire tenders were swung into action immediately after the news of the fire came in, but they failed to douse the flame.
A thick smoke soon covered the air. The firefighters faced difficulties in reaching the source of the incident due to a suffocating environment inside the factory.
As a concrete wall had surrounded the room that caught fire, the fire fighters could not douse the flames. Two JCB was brought to the spot from the Madhyamgram municipality and the concrete wall was pulled down.
Meanwhile, the fire almost engulfed the other two floors of the building resulting in panic among the factory workers who started fleeing.
As the situation was going beyond control, more fire tenders were pressed into action.
A total of 41 fire engines ere deployed and they brought the situation under control around 4 am. The fire fighters tried to ensure that the fire did not spread to the locality as it would have caused casualties in the densely populated area.
After hearing about the incident, the local Trinamool Congress MLA Rathin Ghosh, district police super and other senior police officers reached the spot and supervised the rescue operations.
According to the preliminary investigation, the fire officials suspect that an explosion had taken place
inside the factory as huge amount of inflammable materials were believed to have been stored inside.
Police and fire brigade officials are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.