A major fire broke out in a plywood manufacturing company at Rubber Park in Irapuram, around 10 km away from Perumbavoor town, inflicting, as per preliminary estimates, damage running into crores of rupees in the early hours of Saturday.
Initial SOS was received at the Pattimattom fire station around 5 a.m. However, it soon emerged that it was a much bigger fire than what units from a single station could handle, and as such units from other stations across the district were roped in.
According to Fire and Rescue Services personnel, the electronic panel board went up in flames disrupting the protective circuit breaker thus doing away with protection against overloads and short circuits. Though the company had a proper firefighting mechanism, it could not be put to use owing to the damage to the electronic panel board and the resultant power trip. Cables went up in flames owing to short circuit, and all motors failed while the generator did not work either.
