120803 Cars, bikes gone in midnight blaze
India Aug 02 2012 “Building” “Complex bldg.” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Web Source: The Times of India
Date: 4 August, 2012
Country: India
Cars, bikes gone in midnight blaze
Updated: 2012-08-04-01:39
CHENNAI: Three cars and three motorcycles were severely damaged when a blaze broke out in an apartment complex in Virugambakkam in the early hours of Friday.
Police said the fire engulfed the entire parking lot at Sarvodhya Apartments, a two-floor complex in which four families live, on AVM Avenue. The blaze rapidly spread to a bedroom on one of the ground floor flats, gutting beds and furniture.
Panic stricken, the residents ran outside after disconnecting the power supply and alerted the fire brigade.
Police suspect the fire spread from an overheated airconditioner on the ground floor. “We will conduct an investigation to determine what caused the blaze,” a police officer said.
Police said a resident of one of the apartments on the first floor noticed the fire at 2.15am. “Ramya smelled something burning and looked out of the window. She saw smoke billowing out of the parking lot,” the officer said. “She immediately alerted her husband, Venkatesh, an auditor with a software firm and rushed out with her children.”
Venkatesh said they had second thoughts about opening the door even though their apartment was full of smoke because they initially believed that robbers had started the fire to force them out of the building. “We then telephoned our neighbours and everyone soon got out of the building,” Venkatesh said.
Ramya said the family and their neighbours tried to douse the fire with buckets of water. “It was futile because of the intensity of the blaze,” she said. “It damaged the entire parking area.”
The blaze destroyed the bedroom of a ground floor apartment occupied by Shivaraman, a software engineer, and his family.
Residents of the complex prevented the fire from spreading to a fourth car and another motorbike. But Ponnusamy, a resident of the complex, misplaced the keys of his new car and the vehicle went up in flames.
Fire and rescue service personnel rushed to the spot and put out the fire. Virugambakkam police have registered a case.