‘All firefighters of 1st batch died in Maharashtra ammo unit’
It needs an immense sense of courage, responsibility and sacrifice to walk into a blazing ammo dump knowing that any second a full blast explosion can rip a man to shreds. On Tuesday night, a motley group of bravehearts from the Army and civilian firefighters did exactly that when they walked into a burning shed housing 1,40,000 kg of explosives.
Their mission: to douse the fire and stop it from turning into a deadly inferno in India’s biggest ammo stockpile in Pulgaon, near Maharashtra’s Wardha.
“Of the first party that walked in to douse the fire, no one survived, nor could anyone have. Some bodies are mangled beyond recognition,” a defence official said on condition of anonymity as an inquiry is already underway.
“While the cause of the fire is not yet known, it first set ablaze the over-ground shed that housed anti-tank mines, In all, about 140,00 kg of ammunition exploded. The first party virtually walked into it to tackle it.”
“Most of the people injured were ones who were outside the shed that caught fire,” the source added. Pulgaon had been seeing high temperatures averaging about 39 degrees with about 32 per cent humidity levels in the last few days which is not quite unusual in the region known to be among India’s most torrid zones.
“While there is every likelihood of the fire having started in the dry grass and later spreading to the shed, there is also the possibility that the explosives — particularly ones with fuses and containing white phosphorus — may have exploded,” the source pointed out.
Top precautions are taken. No one is allowed to smoke in the campus and every shed is equipped with firefighting equipment.
At last count, with the recovery of two more bodies (both Defence Service Corps jawans), the number of people killed stands at 19 (Two officers, four DSC jawans, 13 firefighting staff). The injured include two officers, three Army jawans, four DSC jawans, and eight firefighters.
While one ammunition shed at the Central Ammunition Deport (CAD) was completely gutted, several ancillary stores were also damaged. The fire and subsequent explosion covered a diameter of about 100 meters.
In hundreds of sheds, the Pulgaon depot houses the entire range of Indian’s war arsenal including Brahmos, Agni, Prithvi missiles, small arms ammunition, bombs, landmines, high calibre ammunition of armoured vehicles, battle tanks, missiles, etc.
After development of ammunition and explosives by the ordnance factories or after procuring them from abroad, CAD is the place where they are stored before being dispatched for distribution to various depots and field ammunition depots for replenishing stocks.
