A massive fire broke out at a scrap godown in the Khairi Gram Panchayat area under Kamptee tehsil in Nagpur district on Thursday morning.

The fire erupted around 9 am and quickly spread across the large scrap storage facility. Within minutes, the flames engulfed the entire premises, where a large number of four-wheeler scrap vehicles were stacked.

Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising from the site and could be spotted from several kilometres away. Eyewitnesses reported that loud, bursting sounds were heard as vehicles caught fire one after another, adding to the panic in the area.

Preliminary information suggests that the godown reportedly belongs to Nizam Ansari, a resident of Jafar Nagar in Nagpur. Locals immediately alerted the police and fire department after noticing smoke coming out of the premises.

Soon after, multiple fire tenders from Kamptee Municipal Council, Yerkheda Nagar Panchayat and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation rushed to the spot. Firefighters worked for several hours to bring the blaze under control and prevent it from spreading to nearby areas.

Officials said that more than 500 scrap vehicles parked inside the godown were completely gutted in the fire, leading to massive financial losses, which are expected to run into crores of rupees.

The exact cause of the fire is still not known. However, officials suspect that highly flammable materials stored in the scrap yard may have helped the fire spread rapidly.