Fire service officials outside the godown at Jagatpur in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 15: Property worth several lakhs of rupees gutted in a fire that broke inside a rubber chemicals unit godown near phase II new industrial estate at Jagatpur around 5.30am today.

Large stock of pesticides and tyre-retreading materials were stocked in two separate rooms of the single-storey godown located on the same premises. The goods and two labour quarters were also gutted in the fire. Ten fire tenders had to work for around five hours to douse the flames.

An official said the godwon, owned by one Pawan Gupta, had not taken the fire safety precautions, despite the fact that high-inflammable chemicals were stored there.

The godown owner refused to comment on such lapses. “So far, no case has been lodged in connection with the fire mishap,” said Chandra Sekhar Sahoo, inspector in charge of Jagatpur police station.

Two fire officials suffered minor injuries while trying to douse the flames by climbing up boundary walls of the godown.

“It was mainly a godown for tyre-resoling unit that was operating from six rooms of a single-storey structure with an asbestos roof. Though the entire inflammable material in six rooms have been gutted, we could save material stocked in two rooms,” said chief fire officer Sukant Sethi.