Perfume fuels fire in Bengaluru warehouse, 5 injured

Bengaluru: An accidental fire ripped through a perfume warehouse at Makali, near Nelamangala, Sunday afternoon, injuring five labourers and causing losses estimated to run into crores.The blaze broke out between 11am and 11.10am in a compressor unit kept inside one of the storage units of the warehouse where a private firm had stocked perfume bottles, fire and emergency officials said after a preliminary inquiry.
The flames quickly spread to adjacent stalls storing air-conditioning equipment and other materials. The warehouse complex, owned by Lokesh and rented out to different firms, has 7-8 storage units built in a row. The fire was confined to three of them.Five workers — Santosh, 26, from Kurabaramanahalli in Tumakuru district, Vishwanath, 35, Ramesh, 70, Manjunath, 45, and Jayaram — sustained injuries. They managed to rush out of the warehouse before emergency teams arrived. Bystanders took them to Victoria Hospital and a private hospital. Their condition was yet to be ascertained at the time of reporting.According to a senior fire officer, deodorants in cans fuelled the rapid spread of the fire. An adjacent air-conditioned stall had stored small gas cylinders, leading to repeated explosions that hampered firefighting efforts.As many as 11 vehicles — three water tankers, five bowsers, two foam tenders and an SDRF canter — were deployed along with nearly 50 personnel. Firefighters kept a distance initially due to the intensity of the blaze and intermittent blasts inside the 40x50 sqft storage units.The fire was brought under control by only by 4.30pm, though dampening of the operations continued beyond 7pm. Officials said foam was not used as the burning materials did not warrant it. Instead, nine water tankers and bowsers were repeatedly refilled using water available on the premises of a neighbouring store.Witnesses told the media that the AC items gutted in the fire belonged to a company that manufactures air conditioners and air purifiers, while the chemicals belong to a tech MNC that also sells FMCG products. They alleged that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the manager.The power supply to the warehouse disconnected and the fire extinguishers could not be used. People working inside rushed out, and the fire spread afterwards. The warehouse is said to be spread across 60,000 sqft. The owner had taken all the fire safety measures, but the incident happened due to the negligence of the people working in the warehouse, the witnesses said, adding that the small AC cylinders burst one after the other. "We [villagers] joined the dousing operation and helped avoid further damage," said one local resident."We saw the fire in the warehouse. The AC units, perfumes, and other items were gutted. Around 45 people were working at the time of the incident. They came running out, and the warehouse partition had caught fire," another resident said.Officials of the Madanayakanahalli police station, where the case of accidental fire has been registered, said the exact extent of property damage was not assessed.-----Box:Retd officer spots blaze, raises alarmFire and emergency services were alerted by Ramakrishna, a retired officer of the department, who noticed the blaze while travelling by a bus towards his home at Thyamagondlu."I sensed it was a major fire. I called the fire and emergency services from the bus and asked them to send tenders immediately," he said.Ramakrishna later learnt around 3.30pm, after calling the helpline again while returning from a function in Tumakuru, that the fire was still not under control as the gas from perfume bottles continued to feed the flames.