India
Pulgaon's Central Ammunition Depot in flames
A shed in the CAD, which stores a huge amount of ammunition from big Brahmos missiles to AK 47 rifles caught fire on 31 May. Two Army officers, one jawaan and thirteen firefighters died trying to stop the fire from escalating. The cause of fire is left to be established; a Court of Inquiry (COI) into the mishap has been ordered by the Army.
About the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD)
Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), located in Wardha district in Maharashtra, is a military area along with being the second largest ammunition depot in Asia. Known as the 'mother depot', it feeds the country's 1.18 million strong army through 14 field ammunition depots (FAD's). CAD Pulgaon had cleared the safety audit carried out by the DRDO's Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES).
Major depot fires in India
Recent years have witnessed a handful of fires at ammunition depots. The biggest of them was a fire at an ammunition depot in Bharatpur, Rajasthan in 2000, where 2 people died. The 2007 Jammu & Kashmir fire killed 19 people and destroyed Rs, 1,313 crore worth of ammunition. The fire in West Bengal's Panagarh ammunition depot, 2010, destroyed tons of ammunition but nobody died.
Major Fire at CAD
On 31 May, a fire broke out in one of the sheds housing "highly sensitive ammunition" in the CAD, spread over 7,000 acres. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Wardha, 33 kms from Pulgaon, to be treated for severe burn injuries. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar along with Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag visited CAD; they also met the injured persons.
Award
In April, the CAD in Pulgaon won an award for disposing expired ammunition in safe, green and cost-effective "demilitarisation" exercise by using concentrated solar energy.
Pulgaon's Central Ammunition Depot in flames
A shed in the CAD, which stores a huge amount of ammunition from big Brahmos missiles to AK 47 rifles caught fire on 31 May. Two Army officers, one jawaan and thirteen firefighters died trying to stop the fire from escalating. The cause of fire is left to be established; a Court of Inquiry (COI) into the mishap has been ordered by the Army.
Casualties
Excluding the loss suffered in Tuesday's blaze, arms, ammunition and missiles worth well over Rs 3,000 crore have been destroyed in fires in ammunition and ordnance depots in the country since 2000.
