A large number of illegal scrap shops and tin sheds caught fire at Jadhav Wadi, Chikhali, Kudalwadi area in Pimpri Chinchwad, in the early hours of Friday.
Officials confirmed that no casualties were reported in the incident.
The control room of the Pimpri Chinchwad fire brigade first got information about the fire around 12:38 am. Soon, teams of the Pimpri Chinchwad fire brigade, Pune Municipal Corporation, Chakan Municipal Council, Chakan and Chinchwad MIDC rushed to the spot.
A massive fire fighting operation was lauched. As many as 12 fire tenders and over 70 water tankers were pressed into action. Fire officials said the situation was brought under control by around 4 am. Thereafter, a cooling operation was started that continued till Saturday night.
Sources from the fire brigade said the fire had spread over a 2 acre stretch where small shops, including some tin sheds and some small open scrap godowns had been operating illegally.
Officials said a huge number of scrap and industrial waste were brought to these sheds where workers set it on fire to segregate metal and other parts from it.
It is suspected that some scrap items like empty oil cans and inflammable material caught fire while the segregation work was underway. It then spread quickly over a large area, causing massive flames and a lot of smoke.
Fire officials said that the exact cause of the fire was not ascertained. Also, the exact number of shops and sheds that were gutted could not be confirmed. Officials suspect the number could be above 50.
