Imphal: A significant fire incident destroyed a sawmill-cum-plywood factory, causing losses worth thousands of rupees in Manipur’s Kakching district on Wednesday, fire service sources said.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit at M/s Chaobi sawmill-cum-plywood factory, was tackled by two fire tenders.
After receiving emergency information, two fire tenders from the Kakching fire sub-station rushed to the spot at around 12:30 pm on Wednesday and brought the fire under control after battling it for around five hours.
According to Salam Chaobi (60), the owner of the sawmill, if the fire tenders had reached the spot a little earlier, the damage caused by the fire would not have been as extensive.
He said the firefighters, along with the fire tenders, reached the site about 20 minutes after the incident was reported.
The unfortunate incident resulted in the loss of seven rooms of the mill and several items, including timber, chipped logs, truckloads of logs, machinery, several gunny bags containing paddy meant for making rice, and other raw materials.
He added that due to the presence of gunny bags and other inflammable materials in the mill’s storage area, the fire spread rapidly. Other materials were also completely burned.
However, no casualties were reported. Manipur Fire Services said an assessment to determine the extent of property loss is currently underway.