Mumbai: Fire breaks out at ED office, important government files destroyed

MUMBAI: A fire broke out at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Mumbai on Sunday, an official said. The blaze erupted at the Kaiser-I-Hind building located in the Ballard Estate area. No casualties were reported.

According to the Mumbai Fire Department, the fire broke out at around 2:30 am and was escalated to level 3 at approximately 4:21 am, a classification typically reserved for major fires.

Mumbai Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Ravindra Ambulgekar told ANI that there was a level 3 fire, and it took time to extinguishing the flames was challenging due to the heavy smoke.

“It was a level 3 fire. It took time to douse the fire due to heavy smoke. Since the area was large, the situation was brought under control from all sides,” Ambulgekar said.

Chief Fire Officer Ambulgekar added, “Furniture, computers and many important government files were destroyed in the fire.”

In a separate incident, a massive fire that broke out at a plywood factory in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi in the early hours of Saturday continued to rage for over 24 hours, gutting material worth several lakhs of rupees, officials said on Sunday.

According to officials, the fire broke out at a factory located within the Mani Surat Complex. Officials said that they received a call about the blaze in a four-storey factory at 3:30 am on Saturday.

Following the call, the Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation deployed at least four fire tenders to the spot.

No casualties have been reported so far. Firefighting operations are still ongoing.

“The cooling process is currently underway. We are trying to complete the firefighting operation as soon as possible. However, we are facing many challenges due to the continuous burning of the plywood godown,” Fire Officer Sachin Sawant told ANI on Sunday.

“The debris from the godown has collapsed, and the fire is still active. We are making every effort to bring it under control,” he added. (ANI)