Kochi footwear warehouse fire doused (Lead)

Kochi, Feb 20 (IANS) It took 20 fire tenders over five hours to douse a fire that engulfed a showroom-cum-warehouse of a premier footwear company, here on Wednesday. There were no casualties.The fire at the Paragon Footwear building was first reported around 9.30 a.m.The showroom-cum-warehouse is located close to the Ernakulam South railway station in Kerala. A senior Fire Department official said 20 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire. The building did not have safety protocols in place."We are happy that we have been able to put out the fire, and without any casualty. No one has been hurt either," said the official.Ernakulam district collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla said a probe will be initiated to find the cause of fire.A company official estimated the loss at over Rs 4 crore.
--IANS sg/rtp/pcj