MAPUSA: A fire broke out at a godown of a private pharmaceutical company located near the Ucassaim panchayat ghar in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The loss is estimated around Rs 1 crore. However, there were no injuries reported in the incident. The owner has been asked for details of the stock statements to get the exact estimate of the loss caused due to the fire.
Suspected to have been caused by an electric short-circuit at the exhaust fan on the first floor, the fire destroyed a part of the godown located on the first floor. On noticing smoke emitting out of the godown, the Mapusa Fire Services Department was called. Two fire tenders from Mapusa and one from Panjim battled for over three hours to put off the fire.
The Mapusa Fire Station In-Charge Bosco Ferrao told Herald that the cause for the fire and the damages would be known only after investigation.
“We managed to save the pharmaceutical items on the ground floor but the items on the first floor were completely burnt to ashes. The pharmaceutical items included ayurvedic and allopathic consumer items. The loss suffered by the owner is yet to be ascertained as we have asked him to submit details on the stock kept in the godown at the time of the incident. We will be writing to the Electricity Department to ascertain the exact cause of the fire,” Ferrao said.
“We had to enter the godown with the help of a breathing apparatus and we also used a positive-pressure ventilator to push the dense smoke outside so that fire-fighting becomes easy for us,” he added.
The total build up area of the godown is 220 sq meters. The ground floor belongs to Suresh Shetgaonkar and the top floor belongs to Vishu Shetgaonkar. The entry to the first floor was completely blocked and the fire personnel were forced to break open the window panes to allow the dense smoke to escape.
Ferrao further informed that the owner of the godown did not have the NOC from the Fire Service Department.
Besides Ferrao, Sub-Officer Ashok Parab, Sub-Officer from Panjim Sunil Dessai and 14 fire fighters put out the fire.
The Mapusa Fire Station claims to have saved property worth Rs 50 lakh.
