TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: A major fire engulfed a scrap yard in the village of Sao Jose de Areal on Tuesday, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees. A cashew plantation behind the scrap yard was also destroyed.
This is the second fire accident involving a scrap yard in the Areal village in less than a year. Thick black smoke billowed from the scrap yard as fire fighters battled to bring the fire under control. The incident occurred around 12 noon and soon the entire yard was engulfed by fire, raising fears amongst the residents staying close to the yard.
Five fire tenders from Margao, Curchorem and Verna were deployed at the spot in the fire fighting operations, which lasted for around for four-and-half hours before the fire was brought under control at around 4.30 pm.
The fire services used around 10-12 water tanks, besides thousands of liters of foam in the fire-fighting operation.
Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Nitin Raikar told Herald that plastic, rubber and other scrap housed in the yard went up in flames in the massive fire. Though the exact cause behind the fire is being ascertained, Raikar suspected negligence as the cause behind the fire.
Replying to a question, Raikar said though the exact cause behind the incident is being ascertained, Raikar suspected negligence as the cause.
Replying to a question, Raikar said that the scrap yard had no NOC from the fire services before starting the activity.
“We had in the past written to the district Collector about the illegal scrap yards in the village. We will again write to the Collector about the illegal scrap yards,” he added.
