A large quantity of coir was destroyed due to a fire in a warehouse of a coir factory in Navagampura Industrial Park, Ampara. The fire had been caused by sparks while welding was being done for a repair, at the factory.
Subsequently, its employees had informed the Ampara Police and the Ampara Municipality Fire Fighting Unit and they had arrived and started extinguishing the fire. Later, officers of the
firefighting unit of the Ampara Uhana Airfor Camp had come and engaged in a massive effort to douse the fire, as well.
The Ampara Police, Ampara Deputy Health Services Unit, the Red Cross, Disaster Management Unit Water Bowser had provided full support to supply water for the fire trucks. Apart from this, efforts were also made to remove coir using backhoe machines in order to prevent the fire from spreading.
It was difficult to douse the fire because flames were spreading under the coir. The fire broke out at about 10 in the morning and it had taken many hours to extinguish it. Even then, it was
possible to see that a large amount of coir had been destroyed inside the warehouse, as a result of the fire.
Factory owner Dr. Asiri Dissanayake said that there were about 15 tonnes of coir in the warehouse. It was also stated that this coir had been stored to be prepared for export.
W. Chandrapala in Digamadulla