Surat: A massive fire that broke out in industrial textile waste dumped on open land at Kharwasa village on the outskirts of the city on Saturday continued to challenge firefighters for hours, with more than 15 fire tenders deployed and efforts expected to continue until Sunday afternoon.The fire erupted on a nine-bigha plot where large quantities of industrial cloth waste had been stored. Fire officials estimated that more than 1,000 tonnes of waste material was lying on the site.Despite continuous firefighting operations for over eight hours on Saturday, crews struggled to bring the blaze under control because of the volume of combustible waste.According to fire officials, the land had been rented to a scrap dealer who had allowed multiple scrap traders to store waste material there.To sustain operations, fire tenders sourced water from a nearby canal. Officials said returning to the Udhna fire station for refilling would have taken around 1.5 hours for each trip, making the canal the most practical option for maintaining a steady water supply.Firefighting operations were expected to continue until Sunday afternoon as teams worked to extinguish the remaining hotspots and prevent the fire from reigniting.
