Fire at Sarvodaya Solvent Factory Under Investigation
A fire broke out at Sarvodaya Solvent Pvt Ltd in IDA Cherlapally, Hyderabad, on Tuesday evening. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire and suspect that static current in solvents might have triggered it. This contradicts the factory management’s initial claim that an electrical short circuit caused the incident.
According to K. Sridhara Rao, Medchal-Malkajgiri Inspector of Factories, a preliminary investigation suggests that sparks from a goods carrier vehicle parked inside the factory premises may have started the fire. The sparks likely reacted with highly flammable chemicals on-site, causing the fire and leading to the collapse of a structural column.
Although the factory’s fire safety system was reportedly operational, investigators are examining whether the goods carrier was carrying chemicals and if it had a spark arrestor. A spark arrestor is a device used to prevent fires by trapping sparks from vehicle exhausts. However, the vehicle’s driver has been unreachable for questioning.
The fire occurred while the factory was under maintenance between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Despite the maintenance schedule, solvent distillation, a heat-based process to separate chemical mixtures, was still in progress. Inspectors found at least seven tanks on the premises, containing 5-10 kilolitres of solvents and chemicals, including highly flammable substances like methanol, toluene, and cyclohexane.
Efforts to contact the factory management since the fire have been unsuccessful. The Factories Department plans to issue notices to the management as part of their investigation. Authorities aim to determine whether safety protocols were followed and to uncover the exact cause of the fire.
