Fire breaks out at ISRO’s Ahmedabad facility, one hurt, no casualty

A major fire broke out at the research facility building No. 37-A of Space Application Centre (SAC) at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) premises in the Satellite area of Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.  

According to officials, two CISF jawans who were deployed in the building, and two fire fighters, were injured in the fire, the cause of which has not been ascertained yet.  “The fire broke out inside a building used as an antenna testing laboratory (for satellites),” Additional Chief Fire Officer Rajesh Bhatt said.  As soon as the fire broke out around 1.30 pm, the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Service (AFES) control room was informed. Besides ambulances, around 25 firefighting vehicles were rushed to the spot. AFES officials said the fire was brought under control after four hours.

According to Bhatt, the blaze spread quickly due to the presence of U-Foam material on the walls of the lab.  

Considering the importance of the SAC campus, several senior government officials, including Ahmedabad Collector Vikrant Pandey and Joint Commissioner of Police KLN Rao, rushed to the spot along with the AFES officials.

Mukesh Kumar, Commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said, “The situation is under control and there are no fatalities. The injured CISF jawan has been moved to Shalby hospital for treatment.”  A forensics team will investigate the reason for the fire, Kumar added.  The SAC is a major research centre of the ISRO in the city, where payloads for satellite launched by the country are prepared.

—With PTI inputs