KARACHI, Feb 22: Last month’s fire at the Berger Paints Factory in Site, which soon turned into an inferno leaving 90 per cent of the factory gutted, grew out of control partly due to the ill-equipped fire brigade of the city’s fire department, it has emerged.

Sources close to the fire department told Dawn that the delayed response time of the fire tenders in reaching the spot was the main cause of the blaze, which went out of control. “The second fire tender took well over 30 to 45 minutes to reach the factory,” sources claimed.

The first fire tender to reach the scene was from the Site fire station; after arriving at the spot the fire tender’s crew called for reinforcements, but it was the only fit vehicle at the Site fire station.

The other nearest fire station – in Lyari – was called to dispatch its tender, but the duty officer replied that their fire tenders were out of order and were undergoing repairs at the OK body-maker.

The fire department headquarters then called the other nearest fire station of Nazimabad; interestingly the same reply was given: “the fire tenders are out of order and under repair at the OK body-maker,” sources said.

Subsequently, the Orangi fire station was called for help, but they also conveyed their inability, saying that their fire tenders were out of order and under repair.

Finally, fire tenders from the central fire station, located on Nishtar Road, and from Sohrab Goth were dispatched to the burning Berger Paints factory. Both the fire stations are located at a considerable distance from Site.

In the period the fire stations were asked to dispatch their fire tenders to battle the blaze, precious time was lost and the entire factory went up in flames, as highly combustible material was present, sources said.

Incompetence at the top

A former chief fire officer of the fire department told Dawn that the officers in-charge of the department are non-technical persons and are destroying it.

“Considering the pace at which Karachi is developing, the beleaguered fire department is lagging behind and no attention is being paid to it,” remarked former chief fire officer Zamir Siddiqui.

Describing the time factor as of vital importance, the former CFO said fires always start with a small spark and transform into infernos in a short span of time. “Especially where chemicals are present, fire spreads in a matter of seconds, not minutes,” he said.

“Throughout the world, the fire department is always considered the second line of defence. But here, the department needs to be defended from ad-hoc measures,” Mr Siddiqui remarked.

He pointed out that in a new project dubbed ‘IT Towers,’ as per the advertisement, there were no provisions for fire escapes and fire hydrants.

Another former chief fire officer of the defunct KMC, describing the time factor as the basis of the fire-fighting operation, said that three minutes is the minimum and five minutes the maximum response time in any fire.

A source in the CDGK said that the present chief fire officer is holding charge of his post only on verbal orders since January, 2007.

Conspiracy theories

Getting alarmed over the frequency of fire incidents during the recent months, the government appears to be keen in subscribing to conspiracy theories rather than accepting the fact that the fire department is demoralized and ill-equipped.

There are four phases of a fire: in phase 1 only a single fire station is involved in the fire-fighting operation; in phase II the fire tenders of more than one fire station are engaged in the fire-fighting operation; in phase III fire tenders of all the fire stations of the city are called to take part in the operation and finally in phase IV, assistance from all the different agencies is sought to battle the fire.

Interestingly, all the major fires that have broken out in the city during the last 14 months were actually phase IV fires, but were described by the authorities concerned as phase III.