Navi Mumbai: A Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) fireman and an onlooker sustained burn injuries during a firefighting operation at a paint- and thinner-loaded godown in the Steel Market Yard – Kalamboli on Saturday night. The two under treatment at hospitals are out of danger. The fire brigade team doused the fire in a four-hour-long operation. The company owner remains untraceable.The cause of the fire still remains a mystery. Blasting tin barrels led to the shooting out of fireball-shaped burning liquid, which fell more than 50m away during the operation. As a result, the duo came under fire. Fire brigade personnel without PPEs but with T-shirts being caught on video exposed the serious lapses. Activists have expressed their dismay over the unavailability of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to the fire brigade personnel.A chemical explosion during the firefighting operations resulted in fireman Vishal Thakare (28) and a local worker Mahendra Gupta (37) sustaining skin burn injuries. Thakare and Gupta are admitted to Satyam Hospital – Kalamboli and MGM hospital-Kamothe.Kalamboli fire officer Manish Brahmankar said, “Around 50 barrels of paint and thinner were stored inside the godown. Blasts during our operation resulted in the two sustaining below 10% burn injuries. As the owners are absconding, we suspect that the flammable items were stored illegally.”Replying to a query on fire brigade personnel wearing T-shirts, he said, “The PPE procurement procedures have been completed and expected in the next fortnight.”A woman had reported the fire in the godown located on plot number 334. The firefighting operation was conducted between 10.30 pm Saturday and 2.30 am Sunday. The plot is located to the right of Tukaram Warehouse.The fire brigade team deployed a hose reel, a monitor boom and hose lines to douse the flames with water and additionally, 22 cans of aqueous film forming foam were utilised. Kalamboli, New Panvel, Panvel and Kharghar fire stations assisted the operation.
