PESHAWAR, July 8: Thousands of tents, plastic sheets and other non-food items worth millions of rupees were reduced to ashes when a huge fire broke out at the province’s central warehouse of UNHCR in Chamkani area here on Sunday.

“There were about 30,000 tents in the gutted warehouse,” sources told Dawn on condition on anonymity. They said that most of the items, meant for humanitarian assistance, were burnt despite hectic efforts by the firefighters. “The tents and plastic sheets caught fire within no time and only a small number of the stored items could be saved,” sources added.

They said that the fire might have caused by a spark as welders were working on the steel roof of the warehouse, situated around 3km from Peshawar City on G.T. Road. “The fire spread so rapidly that it had already engulfed the warehouse when the fire engines arrived,” sources said. The huge smoke billowing out from the spot could be seen from a distance of 10 to 12km.

Commenting on the intensity of the fire, an official of the city district government, who was present on the spot, told Dawn that he didn’t think that the firefighters would succeed in extinguishing the fire. “The goods stored in the warehouse can catch fire easily,” he added. The fire would extinguish after reducing all the available items to ashes, he said.

The workers of Rescue 1122 and firefighters of city district government were taking part in the rescue operation, an official said. The fire erupted at around 1:30pm and firefighters were busy in extinguishing it till filing of this report.

However, the firefighters were uncertain as to how much time it would take to extinguish the fire. Taimur Ahmed Shah, UNHCR spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when contacted, said that the first priority was to extinguish the fire. Expressing ignorance about the number of tents and other items stored in the warehouse, he said that the number of goods gutted in the fire was not established yet. After thorough investigation, he said, the assessment of the damage would be carried out and the findings would also be shared with the media.

Mr Shah said that the tents and non-food items were not only meant for Afghan refugees but also for Pakistanis in case of any disaster. It was the central warehouse in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa having tents and other items for the people affected by disaster across the country, he said.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour and Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain visited the spot. Mr Hussain told journalists that around 25,000 tents were stored in the warehouse. He said that an inquiry would be conducted and those responsible for the huge damage would be punished.