What the blazes was this?

No one has an answer to what caused military camp fire that engulfed neighbourhood in thick smoke and could not be entirely put out by authorities

No one has an answer to what caused military camp fire that engulfed neighbourhood in thick smoke and could not be entirely put out by authorities

The city woke up to a smoky Valentine's Day, with fires burning uncontrolled inside a military camp and dark smoke clouds, which could be seen 10 km away, engulfing the entire area.

The incident occurred on a 1,200-acre tract of defence land on Sarjapur Road, which resulted in giant smoke clouds visible as far as away Forum Mall in Koramangala.

The efforts to douse the flames remained half-hearted at best, as the fire was in a swampy area. It also seemed that many in the defence set-up did not even know about the fire.

"I am not aware of this incident," said Shruti Patil, defence PRO.

The fire rages inside the military camp, Sarjapur Road.

The fire control room received many frantic calls from residents of HSR and Sarjapur who could see the smoke from around 10.30 am yesterday.

Two vehicles from the Whitefield Fire Service and two from the army were sent to douse the flames. They managed to put off only the flames on the periphery and let the rest of the blaze continue for hours.

"We could not go to the centre of the fire, since it was not accessible. So we left it to die out on its won," said Rajanna from the fire control room.

The main reason cited for the firefighters' inability to reach the centre of the fire was the presence of snakes and other poisonous creatures.

Rajanna said, "There were a lot of snakes, so we could not just walk over there."

The probable cause of the fire is attributed to dry grass in this swampy area opposite No 2 TRG BN 'C' SUP, IBLUR Camp on Sarjapur Road.

The thick, black smoke began enveloping the neighbourhood at 10.30 am yesterday.

The fire tenders secured the periphery so that it would not spread further. "Thanks to the water and green leaves it did not spread further," said B H Nagaraj, Fire Station Office, Whitefield.

However, HSR Police Station Inspector Rajesh was not too sure about the cause of the fire. He attributed it to inflammable dust or some other particles in the area.

He said, "The lake had some particles in it and that's what caused the fire."