E-Paper
Major blaze destroys garment shop in Ludhiana
According to officials, no proper fire safety arrangements were in place at the garment shop, which is located close to a residential area
A major fire broke out at a garments store, Lucky Towel House, on Chaar Khamba Road in Model Town on Friday morning. Panic gripped the area as thick clouds of black smoke engulfed the multi-storey building and a large number of residents and shopkeepers gathered outside the shop.
A short-circuit is suspected to be the reason behind the fire and no casualty was reported from the spot. As per information, the fire broke out at around 10.15 am , around 15 minutes after the store was opened by the owner. The staffers tried to douse the flames using fire extinguishers, but to no avail, following which they moved out of the shop and raised the alarm.
The flames started on the ground floor and as a large number of clothes/garments were stored there, it spread to the first and second floor of the building in a short period. With no proper ventilation, the staffers had to break the glass from outside with bricks, as the fire firefighters were facing difficulty in dousing the flames due to thick smoke. The owner of the adjoining garment store also started shifting the clothes kept in his shop, suspecting that the flames might spread.
Police reached the spot and faced a tough time controlling the crowd which had gathered at the spot.
Fire station officer (FSO), Maninder Singh stated that they reached the spot within 15 minutes after receiving an alert at around 10.30 am. Five fire tenders were deployed to douse the flames and the firefighting operation ended at around 2pm. A fire tender remained stationed at the spot till evening as a precautionary step.
As per the fire fighters, no proper fire safety arrangements were in place at the building which is situated near a residential area. The fire fighters had also made a hole in the boundary wall of the building to sprinkle water from the building situated at the rear of the garment store. The shopkeepers who had gathered at the spot also raised the issue of the absence of a hydraulic ladder with the fire brigade, due to which they were not able to spray water on the second floor from outside.
