Tension prevailed in Fort Kochi on Wednesday (January 29) night after a major fire that broke out in a used home appliance godown in Amaravathy division bang in the middle of a dense residential area threatened to spread to houses in the neighbourhood only to be averted by the timely intervention of multiple fire-fighting units.
The fire erupted around 8.30 p.m. reportedly due to a suspected short circuit, though it remains to be verified. The entire two-storey building was completely gutted in the fire.
It took firefighting units from Mattancherry, Thripunithura, Club Road, Gandhi Nagar, Vypeen and Pattimattom fire stations, in addition to units from the Cochin Port Trust and INS Dronacharya, more than an hour to establish even a semblance of control over the fire and stop it from spreading to nearby houses.
Incidentally, the godown had no licence. “We had denied renewal of licence and have already issued a notice on account of unauthorised door number issues. A burst in the refrigerator reportedly triggered the fire,” said Amaravathy division councillor Priya Prashanth. The gas presence in many appliances reportedly aggravated the blaze.
“Since the location near the Amaravathy Brahma Temple was narrow and congested, we asked people in the neighbourhood to remove gas cylinders and evacuate temporarily as a precautionary measure,” said sources in the Mattancherry police.
Accessibility issues also proved a major hurdle in the firefighting exercise. Sources in the fire and rescue services said portable pumps and hoses had to be extensively deployed to overcome the challenge and pump water. Though the fire was brought under control in over an hour, it was still smouldering, and thick smoke kept billowing out from the godown late into the night.
District Fire Officer K. Harikumar supervised the firefighting efforts. The extent of the damage remains to be verified.
