Massive fire in city’s bike parts warehouse

Kanpur: A massive fire broke out in a bike parts warehouse near Baradevi intersection in the Rakhi Mandi area of the city on Friday evening, triggering chaos among employees working at the site and locals of the area.About a dozen employees were working when the fire started. People began to rush towards the site, while some tried to extinguish the blaze but failed. They then alerted the local police and the Fire Control Room.The employees said they were working in the upper part of the building when the fire suddenly broke out. They tried to put out the fire using the installed fire extinguishers, but the flames spread rapidly and became very fierce within minutes. The flames rose 50 metres high and black smoke filled the sky, they said.Eight fire tenders from the different fire department stations arrived one by one and began efforts to extinguish the fire.Chief Fire Officer Deepak Sharma said, “The fire was tackled from three sides. After this, the firefighters started spraying water with high pressure. Gradually, we managed to control the fire. It took approximately three hours to extinguish the blaze. The warehouse authorities are assessing the damage and loss. We will also check whether fire safety norms were followed here. Fortunately, there have been no casualties.”