Fire destroys warehouse on National Highway

Chief fire officer claims fire tenders could not reach in time due to a severe traffic jam

Karachi

A warehouse used to store bamboos and other wooden materials was reduced to ashes as fire tenders failed to reach the place in time, apparently due to a traffic jam, on Wednesday. No casualties were reported.

Situated on the National Highway, near the Bhains Colony Morr, the chief fire officer of Karachi, Tehseen Siddiqui, said the Central Fire Station had received an alert in the evening and the fire tenders from Landhi and nearby fire stations were immediately notified of it.

“Due to an unprecedented traffic on roads, especially on the highway, the water tenders could not reach the site on time.”

By the time the fire fighters got on with their job, the fire had already spread to the entire godown as the material stored inside was mostly wooden, he added.

Siddiqui claimed that 12 fire tenders and three water bowsers were used to douse the fire and that the fire was brought under control within two hours.

 

Injured fire-fighters

Fireman, Masood Ahmed, injured in a road accident a night earlier was still reported to be in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Liaquat National Hospital while another, Muhammad Adam, was being treated at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) and was stated to be in a stable condition.

The firemen met with an accident after the tanker they were travelling on overturned on the Super Highway
while they were on their way back after extinguishing a fierce fire that erupted at a towel factory in Bhingoria Goth, Azizabad.

One fire-fighter, Kaleem Ahmed, lost his life while the two were among six injured.

Siddiqui who had visited both the injured fire officers at the respective hospitals said the four other firemen had been discharged from the hospitals.