Power board property worth ~1 cr gutted
Our Correspondent
Hamirpur, August 12
Property worth over Rs 1 crore was destroyed in a fire at the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board’s Testing and Maintenance Lab near a substation at Anu in ward number 1 of the town today.
The lab that was housed in a decades-old building near the board Chief Engineer’s office was used to repair and maintain old transformers.
The fire erupted around 10.15 am with a blast and engulfed the entire building within minutes. Twelve employees of the testing lab were inside the building at the time of incident. Rajan Sharma, SDO incharge of the lab, said all employees immediately rushed out of the building. He added that all employees are safe. The blaze was brought under control by the firefighters after three hours, but everything had been reduced to ashes by then.
There were 80 transformers and several barrels of inflammable oil inside the building that not only augmented the intensity of the fire, but also made it difficult for the firefighters to put out the blaze.
Flames leapt as high as 30 feet as a layer of smoke covered the entire area.
Station Fire Officer Prem Chand said a team was rushed to the site immediately after they received the distress call.
SDO Rajan Sharma said though the exact loss was being estimated, it was likely to be around Rs 1 crore. He added that the cause behind the fire could will be ascertained after an investigation.
