20131123 India Fire destroys 4 shops in Chandni Chowk
India Nov 22 2013 “Stores”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire destroys 4 shops in Chandni Chowk
Updated: 2013-11-23-03:41
NEW DELHI: A massive fire destroyed four garment showrooms in the main Chandni Chowk market on Friday afternoon. Although no casualty was reported, the shop owners claimed goods worth lakhs were destroyed.
The fire started from a short-circuiting of wires outside a showroom around 1pm and spread to the neighbouring shops as the fire brigade took more than an hour to arrive, locals said. Firefighters took almost one-and-a-half hours to put out the blaze.
Traders in the market said they heard a loud noise and saw the first showroom on the ground floor catch fire. “We pulled out fire extinguishers and rushed outside to douse it, but by then there was short-circuiting at 2-3 more points and the fire spread to the neighbouring showrooms. We immediately started evacuating customers and the staff from the buildings,” said Mohd Rahees, owner of Zenith Plaza, which is on the ground floor. The narrow staircase made evacuation difficult.
Rahees said the damage would have been less had the fire tenders arrived sooner. “I called up the fire brigade at 1.05pm but they took more than half-an-hour to arrive,” alleged Amit, a private security guard at the neighbouring showroom. Fire department officials said they received the call at 1.13pm but got caught in traffic. “We can’t help it. This is one of the most congested areas in the city. We had rushed 20 fire tenders to the spot, but it took us a lot of time to reach it,” said Vedpal, a senior fire official who was in charge of the rescue work. He said none of the shops had a proper fire fighting system. AK Sharma, director of Delhi Fire Service, also pointed to the shop owner’s negligence.
The firemen took almost one-and-a-half hours to douse the fire. “There is a maze of wires hanging loose outside the shops. We had to use a hydraulic ladder to reach the top floor of the building. The fire spread fast as the shops had clothes, plastics and other inflammable material,” said a fire official.
Congestion, encroachment and the tangled high tension wiring are old hazards in the area. The fire service has repeatedly raised these issues but North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Police have not taken any action to make the area safer. The last major fire in the area was reported from Bhagirath Palace in March.
Websource：The Times of India
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-23/delhi/44389212_1_fire-brigade-fire-official-massive-fire