Uttar Pradesh / Moradabad : Catering stall fire at railway station, no fire extinguisher at station
A fire broke out in a catering stall at Moradabad station’s platform number 7 late on Wednesday night. There is no fire extinguishing system with the railways. The fire brigade reached in time and extinguished the fire, otherwise the fire could have assumed a formidable form.
There are six-seven platforms apart from Moradabad station. From here, passenger trains run for Ramnagar, Kashipur and Kathgodam. Many passenger trains are closed due to Corona. Therefore, trains run from this platform from five in the morning to five in the evening. There is a stall for the convenience of the passengers. A fire broke out at a food stall at 2:30 on Wednesday night. There were no railway employees or railway police personnel on that platform at that time. A passenger informed the station master about the fire. A worker arrived with a fire inspector from the station master. The fire was very huge, the fire inspector could not extinguish the fire. There was no other fire extinguishing facility on the platform. The fire team was informed. The team reached and extinguished the fire at 3 pm.
Empty bogie of train standing near the spot: The empty bogie of the train going to Ramnagar was standing at platform number seven at five in the morning, there was no passenger in the train at the time of the incident. The flames were reaching very close to the stationary train. The employees who reached the information kept trying to ensure that the flames did not move towards the train.
Diesel tanks are two hundred meters away from the site of the incident: Indian Oil Company has three big tanks in the station premises to supply diesel to the diesel engines. In which thousands of liters of diesel are filled at all times. The distance of the diesel tank from where the fire started is two hundred meters. Had there been a strong wind, part of the fire could have reached the tank, causing a major accident.
There is no system of fire extinguishing at the station: There are offices of many departments on platform number one, there is a fire inspector inside the office. Due to the closure of the office during the night, the fire inspectors are closed. No platform or waiting room shall have even a bucket full of water for pouring water in case of fire.
Railway’s joint team submitted investigation report: After the fire incident, the joint team of railways investigated and also took the statement of the stall operator. In which the stall operator told that when he was closing the stall on Wednesday, there was no electricity at that time. So forgot to turn off the MCB inside the stall. On investigation, it was found that the fire started due to short circuit.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Sudhir Singh said that there was a fire in the catering stall on platform number 6 and 7, joint investigation report revealed that the fire was caused by short circuit. The arrangement of keeping buckets full of water on the platform has been stopped. Fire Instructors are available in all the offices to douse the fire.
