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A major fire broke out in a four-storey building at Colootola Street yesterday. No injuries were reported in the incident. The fire erupted in a godown packed with plastic toys on the first floor of the building at around 11 am, according to the firemen.
In no time, the leaping flames spread to the other floors of the building. The shooting flames spreading fears of fire engulfing the adjacent buildings. Several godowns stacked with garments, cartons and other inflammable items were charred into ashes.
The devastating blaze made firefighters, disaster management groups, zero in with city police officials on their heels while 22 engines were being pressed into service to douse the blaze. The ravaging fire triggered panic among the residents who came down hurriedly while the neighbouring youths immediately came to the spot and evacuated the people.
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The shooting flames even touched the outer walls of a three-storey mixed occupancy building. Several blasts added to the fear of the local residents who worked with the firemen to douse the flames. However, as the building
was almost a century-old structure, its collapsing portions brought additional challenges before the firemen.
The fire engines struggled through the congested stretch trying to reach to the points of flames. Narrating his plight, one of the resident living in the building said, “I had just started my routine work when there was some noise outside. I looked outside and was horrified to see the tongues of flames that came leaping. Seeing the flames, I was panicked and feared being engulfed by the blazes but somehow we managed to escape the fire.”
The firemen on the spot alleged that despite several godowns stacked with inflammable articles, there were no fire-fighting arrangements in the building. “We have urged the people repeatedly to have firefighting arrangements but
they do not follow the rules,” said the state Fire and Emergency Services minister, Sujit Bose.
“We can take actions and shut down these units but that is no solution to the problem,” he added.
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