For more than 24 hours, Maniram Jat has stood there, watching the fires rage at the Indian Oil Corporation depot near Jaipur — five people have died and six are said to be missing in the blaze. His blue uniform has black patches all over, the white helmet now as dark as his hair.

“Raat mein maano sab jagah lal suraj ug aaya ho, visfot ke baad phir kuch sunai nahin diya (it seemed as if suns were exploding everywhere in the night, you could hear nothing after the blast),” said Maniram.

His fire tender had sped towards the IOC depot the moment the first fire call came to the Sitapur fire station on Thursday evening. “It must have been 7.15 in the evening, we were there in minutes. It was just to check a fire call. And then you had this — boom.”

Maniram and three others, Desraj Gurjjar, Om Prakash and Suraj, were the first to reach the IOC depot. “We covered our faces and went in to investigate,” said Gurjjar.

Maniram said he and the other firemen had no idea “what was happening, so we ran and hid under the tender.”

But then they emerged, got into the tender and sped away to call Chief Fire Officer Ishwar Jat on his mobile phone. “Our ears hurt, but we escaped and informed the others. After first aid, we returned to the site and have been here ever since,” said Gurjjar.

Boss Ishwar Jat said: “I got a call from Maniram about the explosion and immediately dispatched all tenders at my disposal. There were 15 at that time, with all available personnel. Now we have 40 tenders and around 150 fire fighters from Jaipur.”

... contd.