A disabled worker was killed when a fire broke out at a decorative items storage facility in Pune’s Hadapsar area in the early hours of Sunday. The body of the deceased – identified as Rajiv Bhimsen Kale (52) – was discovered among the rubble later in the day, when fire officials announced that there were no casualties in the incident.
Kale lost both his legs in an accident a few years back.
Officials said the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, but a short circuit in the power system could be a possible cause.
A case has been registered at Hadapsar police station pending investigation into the cause of the accidental fire on Sunday afternoon.
The fire was reported at a storage facility located at Sadasatarnali in Hadapsar area. The fire was brought under control after three hours of hard work.
The Pune Fire Brigade received a call about the fire at around 3.10 am, officials said. He said that after initial deployment of two fire tenders from Hadapsar fire station, more were pressed into service in view of the intensity of the fire.
Pune Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said, “One death has been reported in the fire. Many a times, it happens that after we have completed the fire fighting and cooling operations, subsequent searches result in casualties. The identity of the victim remains untraceable. At times, victims take shelter at a particular place or get injured and cannot call for help.”
Hadapsar police station inspector Arvind Gokule said, “The deceased person is an employee at the facility and was physically disabled. He had prosthetic legs. ,
Fire Station Officer Vijay Bhilare said, “It is a storage facility for various stage and event decoration items including curtains, carpets, stage structures and various wooden and plastic items. The area of this facility is approximately 8,000 square feet. Most of the items were burnt to ashes by the fire. The fire was brought under control at around 6.30 am and thereafter a cooling operation was carried out to avoid any kind of fire.
There have been several incidents of fires at storage facilities in Pune in the recent past. Last week, on November 9, a massive fire broke out at a furniture godown in Pisoli area. A fire was reported at a furniture storage facility in Gangadham area on the night of October 24. One person was rescued by fire brigade personnel on 7 October. After being caught in a massive fire that broke out at a grocery storage facility in the Marketyard area.
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