Major fire at Dera Bassi paper mill, no casualty

Satinder Pal Singh
Dera Bassi, February 26

A massive fire broke out in the stockyard of Vishal Paper Mill situated on the Dera Bassi-Ramgarh stretch in the wee hours of today. No casualty was reported, but the incident led to a loss of raw paper material stashed in the godown. Sources said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

The fire, which started at 4.10 am from the waste stockyard of the mill, spread quickly. Over 50 firemen, a majority of them engaged from neighbouring areas, were pressed into service to bring under control the inferno-like situation in the mill stockyard.

Manjit Singh, Fire Officer, Dera Bassi, said they received information at 4.15 am and subsequently fire engines were rushed to the spot. The Dera Bassi fire wing rushed all three fire engines and a water boozer along with a team of firefighters to extinguish the flames.

Fire engines from Mohali, Rajpura, Lalru and Baddi were called to battle the fire. The rescue work, which started around 4.30 in the morning, went on till noon since paper was burning in heaps and it was tough for the fire extinguishers to completely battle the fire, said the Fire Officer.

He said over 20 fire engines were pressed into service to douse the flames. It took them over seven hours to complete the rescue operation, said Manjit Singh.

Even after the fire was extinguished, the waste material kept smouldering and a few fire engines were stationed at the spot to sprinkle water at regular intervals to check the recurrence of the blaze. The main plant of the mill was safe, said the Fire Officer.

An eyewitness said, “There was panic after the waste paper lying in the stockyard caught fire. It spread at such a pace that within minutes it was all over.”

Officials of the paper mill could not be contacted.