A fire broke out at the Cantonment Namma Metro underground work site around 4 p.m. on Saturday causing panic among residents and workers on the site. As thick black smoke billowed out from the construction area, residents rushed out of their houses worried that it would further escalate. However, no casualties were reported.
According to BMRCL and fire and police officials, most of the material that caught fire was polystyrene which was the cause of the heavy smoke. The storage area also contained construction material and plywood, plastic material and containers of glue. “The work site usually receives machinery and tools packed inside boxes. The waste materials were kept near the compound wall. Someone may have thrown a cigarette butt resulting in the fire,” said Anjum Parwez, managing director of BMRCL.
A passerby first noticed the smoke and alerted fire and emergency personnel. Three tenders along with five teams of fire and emergency service personnel were pressed into service. According to Mr. Parwez, the fire broke out away from the core metro site and had no impact on the ongoing tunneling work.
The metro Cantonment station is part of the Dairy Circle-Nagawara underground line. BMRCL had first begun tunnel work from this point. Sources in the BMRCL said that outsiders may have been involved in the fire accident as a similar incident happened some time ago. “Adjacent to the wall, there are some residential buildings. Someone may have thrown the cigarette butt,” said an official.
Fire and emergency officials and the police are probing the cause of the fire. “Though overheating of inflammable material is suspected to be the reason behind the mishap, a team of technical experts and police visited the area. We are waiting for the report,” said a police officer.
Garbage heap catches fire in Jigani Industrial area
In another incident, a garbage heap outside a factory in the Jigani industrial area caught fire on Saturday afternoon.
Residents adjacent to the factory alerted the control room when they saw the smoke. Two fire tenders were roped in to put out the fire. “The garbage heap comprised material and discarded items from the factory as the result of which the fire spread fast leading to smoke covering the area. As it was a garbage dump no complaint has been registered,” a fire officer said.
With temperatures rising, there has been a spate of fires breaking out in the city over the last few days. On Friday, more than 20 vehicles seized by the police were gutted in separate instances of fires at the parking yards next to Kengeri and K.G. Halli police stations.
