Paint factory catches fire in SITE area

Blaze guts paint, loom factories
SEPA director warns of health hazards; urges citizens to evacuate area

Thursday, April 09, 2009
By Gibran Ashraf

Karachi

A massive inferno consumed a multinational paint manufacturer�s plant, its chemical stock, warehouse and a neighbouring loom factory in SITE on Wednesday afternoon. Two firemen were also injured after a few drums of chemicals exploded.

The fire, which some said started out in a crate at the Buxley Paints factory, was left untended due to lack of fire-fighting equipment in the factory. The blaze catastrophically spread throughout the plant, however the factory and neighbouring plants were evacuated in time, preventing any loss of human life.

While the fire department claims that the first call came in to them around 5.10pm, people from the neighbouring factory said that the fire began around 4.30pm. Regardless, the first of the fire tenders reached the scene around 6.00pm.

Zubair Amin Motiwala, who owns a CNG station and a plastic manufacturing plant located just one factory down the lane from the paint factory, said that the first fire tender, a small one, came around 6.00 pm. This too focused more on the office building in the paint factory, where the chemical drums were exploding. One of the drums even fell in the textile mill on the street across from the paint factory. He added that the CNG station had been shut down at 5 pm to avert any catastrophe, however the fire department was lax at containing the fire.

Ehtishamuddin Siddiqui, the Chief Fire Officer of the city, said that as soon as they reached the spot, they declared the fire as a Phase-3 fire, the maximum emergency level. Following this, fire tenders from across the city were called in. Twenty-six fire tenders of the City District Government Fire Department, three snorkels, two bousers, and fire tenders of the Karachi Port Trust, all Cantonment Boards, Defence Housing Authority, Navy and Air Force fire services were all battling the fire in the over six-hour operation. He said that up to 50 per cent of the fire had been brought under control. Snorkels were being used to spray water from an altitude, as a direct force entry from the front gate was not possible due to the intensity of the fire.

Additionally a row of private water tankers, provided by the neighbouring Feroze Textile mills kept the water supply to the tenders running.

Despite the claims made by the Fire Department, and the firm stance of the Acting Executive District Officer Municipal Services Khuda Buksh Pathan, there was no sign of the use of foam in fighting the fire. Pathan alleged that the factory did not follow the proper fire safety procedures and that they would crack down on plants that do not have proper fire fighting equipments installed, as per the CDGK bye-laws.

While the drums of chemicals continued to explode till around 8.30 pm, the fire department was guilty of gross neglect, as the warehouse and store of paints nearby were completely ignored and allowed to burn. This was the reason that the neighbouring loom and towel factory of Khanani Industries also caught fire.

Struggling to combat and contain the fire at the manufacturing plant, the roofs of the production, office, and warehouse building of the paint building imploded.

Employees of Buxley Paints, on condition of anonymity, said that Buxley was founded in 1938 in what is now Pakistan, with the current factory structure being constructed in 1947. It was currently third in overall national market share of paints in the country.

Meanwhile the technical director of the Sindh Environment Protection Agency said that the incident was a massive environmental hazard as the effluents would be carried far and wide by the strong winds. He advised people to move out of the area, or seal the doors and windows of their houses. He said that the effluents could cause respiratory, skin, and eye diseases. Furthermore, he said that a mobile testing van of the SUPARCO would also test the quality of air.

Two firemen, Senior Fire Officer Tariq and lead fire officer Habib Khan were injured during the operation.

What is strange is that the gate to the loom and colour dyeing factory was wide open, with anyone passing through could see the flames raging, however not even a single tender of the fire department made a move towards that section till the media focused on it around 9.30pm.

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KARACHI: A paint factory located in Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE) area caught fire here on Wednesday, Geo news reported.
Flames, smoke can be seen across the entire city, temperature in the vicinity is increased, visibility is just a feet, entire fire brigade machinery is utilized but fire flame is increasing moment by moment.

Fire erupts in paint factory

KARACHI ( 2009-04-08 19:28:55 ) :An inferno in SITE area paint factory completely gutted the plant on Wednesday evening.

The inferno, which broke out in raw material section of Buxly Ltd located at SITE area, soon spread to the entire factory and has damaged the different section of the factory.

The law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and dispersed the people from the site.

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Karachi factories� fire tamed after 8 hrs
Updated at: 0500 PST, Thursday, April 09, 2009
KARACHI: Fire-fighting workers have tamed the fire erupted in a paint and garments manufacturing factories in site area here after eight hours of rescue efforts, fire-fighting sources said on Thursday.

The blazes engulfed the two factories damaging both building substantially meanwhile; fire brigade officials have pronounced one of those factories fragile in condition, sources added.

The fire sparked in a paint-manufacturing factory near Habib Bank Chorangi on Wednesday evening, which, in no time, engulfed another garments� manufacturing factory located nearby, sources maintained.

Following fire eruption, as many as six fire tenders were dispatched to fire scene but the fire, turning inferno, could not be brought under control as the fire rescue authorities pronounced fire of third category, sources underlined and added, �Later, many more fire tenders and snorkels were called in on war footing bases.

The fire was brought under control after eight hours of continued rescue efforts as officials and workers belonging to KPT, DHA and PAF departments contributed in rescue work.

The smoke and deadly fire flames, emitting from paint factory, particularly made it difficult for rescue workers to pursue rescue efforts while in a mean time, three firemen, Qaiser Ali, Dildar Ahmed and Habib Khan were caught trapped amid flames and left injured.

Firefighting authorities claimed the fire was ignited possibly owing to human fault but insisted, the final report on fire will determine the actual reason of catching of fire.