Fire at shoe factory in Delhi, no casualties reported

A major fire broke out in a three-storey shoe factory in northwest Delhi's Keshavpuram in the early hours of Tuesday, just hours after 250 shanties were gutted in a blaze in Tughlakabad village here late last night. However, no loss of life was reported in both the incidents, Delhi Fire Services (DFS) officials said. The cause behind the two fires is yet to be ascertained, they said.

A call about the fire at the shoe factory was received at 8.34 am after which 23 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, said Atul Garg, Director of DFS. According to fire officials, the shoe factory consists of a basement, ground and three upper floors. The fire started from the ground floor of the building where machinery, manufacturing materials, including plastics were stored, they said.

The fire was brought under control within four hours with the help of around 50 fire fighters. However, two fire tenders are still stationed at the spot for the cooling process which is currently underway. The incident took place hours after around 250 shanties were gutted in a blaze that broke out in southeast Delhi’s Tughlakabad village around 12:50 am on Monday. During an online media briefing, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Delhi government will give Rs 25,000 as compensation to every family affected by the major fire in the jhuggi cluster late last night.

Around 500 people have been affected by the fire. According to Sisodia, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has directed officials to make arrangements of food and accommodation at nearby schools for the affected people. Both the fire incidents were termed "medium category", officials said.

In the shoe factory incident, Divisional Officer (West) Mukesh Verma said fire-fighters were divided into five teams and the priority was to contain the fire so that it does not spread to adjacent factories. "The building has only one entry point and the biggest challenge was to contain the fire so that it does not spread to adjacent factories. We managed to contain the fire and adjacent properties also did not sustain any damage," he said.

It is suspected that some fault in an electrical appliance or machinery in the ground floor of the building could have led to the fire, Verma added. In the Tughlakabad incident, the fire also spread to nearby scrap godowns, fire officials said.

The DFS said they received a call regarding the fire at 12.50 am and 28 fire tenders were sent to the spot and it was brought under control by 3.30 am. Several families who occupied the shanties were displaced but no one sustained injuries.

Assistant Divisional Officer Ved Pal said the major challenge was the lanes were congested and at least 10 teams of about 120 fire-fighters were involved in the operation. However, the fire was brought under control and cooling process continued till 5 am. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said a case has been registered in this regard against unknown people..