Massive fire breaks out in Kolkata's Gariahat market, firefighting ops underway
Kolkata, Jan 20 (IBNS): As many as 20 fire tenders and hundreds of staffers from fire and rescue departments are currently continuing a major firefighting operation at south Kolkata's Gariahat area, nearly 10 hours after a multi-storey caught fire at the area, officials said.
According to reports, a massive fire broke out on the first floor of a five-storey residential-cum-commercial building at Gariahat crossing area at around 12:30 am. on Sunday and it spread quickly to the other floors as several inflammable objects were allegedly stored inside the building.
After being informed, 20 fire tenders along with hydraulic ladders, Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel and local police rushed to the scene.
Later on the wee hours, state fire minister Sujit Basu and senior officials from fire and emergency services department as well as Kolkata Police visited the area.
Fire officials said that 22 families lived in four blocks of the building and several shops, including famous saree store Traders Assembly, were located in the multi-storey.
"We evacuated all residents from the building safely and no casualty has been reported so far," a fire official told IBNS.
"The saree store, few other shops and several flats in the building have been gutted due to the major fire," the official added.
Fire and emergency services officials said that main source of the fire had been arrested in the morning.
"We've identified ans arrested the main fire and our cooling off process as well as operation to douse pocket blazes are still on at the scene," the officer said.
Reason behind the fire is still unknown, reports said.
"After preliminary inquiry, we are suspecting that the fire started due to a short circuit, but exact reason behind the fire can be confirmed after completing investigation," a fire officer said.
"The building did not have fire extinguishing system and we're thinking to take legal steps against the building's owner for violating fire safety guidelines," he added.
Meanwhile, traffic at the area was partially disrupted as city traffic police had restricted vehicular movement at Gariahat crossing to assist fire and rescue workers in the firefighting operation.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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