Fire mishap in chemical factory raises questions on safety measures

Patancheru (Medak): A major fire in IDA Pashamylaram solvents’ distillery which took fire fighters more than five hours to extinguish has raised serious questions about the safety of people living in these industrial areas around Patancheru.

These chemical factories store huge quantities of solvents like Methanol, Toluene and Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) which caused such a massive fire,” said Sridhar Reddy, District Forest Officer, who was supervising the firefighting efforts. He claimed that nobody from the management had approached them till then.

Methanol and Toluene are highly toxic hydrocarbon solvents which may explode when exposed to flames. Blindness, convulsions, coma, loss of consciousness, kidney failure, liver damage, headaches, insomnia, stomach problems, visual failure, dermatitis including death can occur due to heavy exposure to methanol.

Permanent brain damage, depression and increased risk of damage to foetus in pregnant women are caused by exposure to toluene, experts said. Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) forms an azeotrope with water, giving it a boiling point of 80.37 degrees Celsius.

These are the kind of solvents which were being distilled there. When these solvents exploded, one can imagine the kind of ecological disaster that was unfolding in Pashamylaram. Fifteen grams of IPA can have a toxic effect on 70 kg person if untreated, they said.