Late-night fire at Gariahat in south Kolkata, many shops burnt

Bringing back memories of Bagri Market incident, a midnight fire engulfed a building in south Kolkata at Gariahat. The fire started around 1 am on Sunday and 19 engines took about 10 hours to bring it under control.

It was an uphill battle for the fire department because it’s a heavily-populated area. They used gas cutters and skyman ladders to enter the highrise.

To deal with the situation, traffic in the opposite Basanti Devi College stretch in Gariahat is being diverted. Some of the stores have been burned to the ground.

The building houses several commercial and residential units. Fire officials suspect that a short circuit might have sparked off the fire at one of the temporary shops on the footpath and spreaded on a branded garments’ showroom. Over one dozen shops on the footpath have been gutted along with several shops in the building which have been razed.

There have been no reports of loss of lives so far as residents who were mostly asleep quickly rushed out of the five-storey building. Fire and disaster management team quickly got into the action and sources said that one 70-plus lady had to be helped out of the building. Extent of damage to property had not been ascertained.

State fire minister Sujit Bose and director general of fire services rushed to the spot. “The cause of fire is not clear. Many shops have been burnt and 19 fire engines are struggling to bring it under control. Shop owners had stocked inflammable objects in the shop which fuelled fire. An investigation will be done into the matter,” he said.