RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, April 21: Precaution against fire once again came under the scanner in the state after a fierce blaze broke out in a furniture shop in Kokar Industrial Area under Sadar Police Station area in the Jharkhand capital.
This incident took place around 3:00 am and it required 10 fire fighting vehicles to press into service. The firefighting still continues. There is no loss of life but property loss is heavy as the shop, Vikas Furniture, is one of the prominent furniture shops of the city.
A fireman at Audrey House Fire Station confirmed the incident saying he got the information at 2.48am and immediately rushed the fire fighting vehicles to the spot. “The reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained as the team has not returned,” he said.
The incident took place a day after end of safety week on April 20 and about 77 days after the Jharkhand High Court directed for fire safety audit across the state while taking suo moto cognizance in an incident of fire in Dhanbad which claimed 14 lives on January 31 night and another incident of fire on January 27 that claimed the lives of a doctor couple in the same district.
None of the fire department officials were available for comment on the matter; an insider said it was the outcome of the lack of routine exercise of the department to create an awareness of fire safety in the city.
“Only 32 days after the Jharkhand High Court directed for a fire safety audit across the state, plastic pipes worth several lakh were reduced to ashes on March 6 in the Urban Haat capital near Kanke Dam under Godda police station. This shows how the department is not capable to do fire audit and create awareness due to shortage of manpower. Against the 875 posts sanctioned, 460 posts are lying vacant in the fire department,” the official said.
This is not an isolated incident of fire in Jharkhand.
On January 2, fire broke out in Usha Martin industrial campus in Tatisilwai due to a short circuit. The company must have incurred a loss of Rs one crore in the incident.
Prior to this, on December 29 a fierce fire broke out in Lalpur police station premises in the heart of Jharkhand capital.
Two incidents of fire took place in the months of January at GEL Church Complex.
Last year on March 22, important documents charred as fire broke out on the fifth floor of the Main branch of State Bank of India at Kutchery under Kotwali police station.
In the intervening night of January 31 and February 1, a shop at Vidyanagar under Sukhdeonagar police station gutted.
In Hazaribagh two below 5 year children, Sakshi and Avinash Kumar, playing in hey dump in Checkapi village under Barkatha block died after fire broke out in the dump. The incident took place on January 30.
In Chaibasa, Amir Hussain and his four-yr-old daughter were charred to death after fire broke out in a morgue of SAIL’s Kiriburu-Meghahatuburu General Hospital. The incident took place on the same day.
Prior to this, on January 19, a 19-yr-old youth was charred to death while another sustained severe burn injuries after fire broke out in the outhouse of Krishna Apartment situated under Bariatu police station area.
