Massive industrial fires break out in Padra, Khambhat

Vadodara: Two major industrial fires were reported at Padra in Vadodara and Khambhat taluka of Anand district on Saturday night. Fire brigade from Vadodara and major industrial functionaries were pressed into operations to bring the fire under control.
At Padra’s Dhobikuva village, the fire had started at a food processing company- Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd’s storage plant around 10 pm.Firemen from Padra municipality tried to douse the fire but when it started engulfing the manufacturing unit, the staff from Vadodara Fire and Emergency Services were called in. “When we reached, the fire had taken a huge form. However, we tried to minimise the damage in the manufacturing and office building,” said fire officer Nikunj Azad of Makarpura GIDC fire station.
“The company had fire hydrant system but it was not functional due to which they had to run water relay system to get water from other places. “If there would have been proper resources of water, we would have controlled fire quickly,” he added. The fire was doused at around 6 am on Sunday.
Another fire broke out at Jay Chemical Industries Ltd at Khambhat around the same time. Besides fire staff of local municipalities, firemen from emergency response centre (ERC) at Darjipura, IOCL, ONGC and GSFC were also called in.
“The raw material storage plant of the company had caught fire. It took us around seven to eight hours to douse the fire,” said Harshwardhan Puwar, fire officer, ERC.