VASCO
A massive blaze ripped through an under-construction facility belonging to Param Logistics Company—a warehouse tied to Dulux Paints—situated inside Phase IV of the Verna Industrial Estate on Monday morning. The fire, which erupted at approximately 11:25 am, left the under-construction structure severely ruined and triggered an intensive multi-station emergency response.
Detailing the sequence of events, Verna Fire Station Officer Dilesh Gaonkar explained that structural welding tasks were actively underway on the elevated metal-built first floor of the premise. According to accounts shared by workers with responding fire crews, an active honeycomb was stationed within the immediate vicinity of the work zone. The vibrations and disturbances from the ongoing welding operations agitated the swarm, causing the honeybees to fiercely attack the labourers working on the upper level. Panicked by the sudden stinging assault, the workers handling the welding equipment lost their grip, causing the active machinery to drop hard onto the flooring. The falling device generated immediate sparks upon impact, which reportedly landed directly on containers of paint stored on-site for the upcoming finishing and painting work.
Compounding the disaster, an extensive collection of leftover scrap materials scattered across the premises acted as instant fuel, allowing the flames to race rapidly through the entire structure. Faced with rapidly escalating walls of fire, the terrified crew abandoned the area and fled to safety before notifying the site supervisor, who promptly summoned the Verna Fire Station. Upon arrival, initial firefighting units quickly recognised the extreme severity of the inferno and immediately summoned reinforcements. Fire tenders were rushed in from neighbouring stations in Margao, Ponda, and Vasco to establish a coordinated response.
A total of four fire tenders battled the aggressive flames for roughly 90 minutes before firefighters finally managed to bring the situation under control.
The sheer intensity of the blaze proved catastrophic for the upper framework, ultimately causing the entire first metal floor to buckle and collapse. However, swift interventions by the firefighting crews prevented the disaster from reaching the ground level, successfully safeguarding the lower portion of the building from total ruin. While formal damage assessments are still underway by company evaluators, preliminary estimates from sources at the scene suggest that financial losses will easily scale into several lakhs of rupees.
