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Massive fire ravages six-storey building in Ludhiana
The building located deep inside the old city had clothes worth at least ₹30-40 lakhs at the time of the incident, all of which were lost in the fire, owner Kamal Garg said
A major fire broke out in a six-storey building housing wholesale kids’ wear on Hazuri Road, one of the busiest markets in the old city here on Tuesday.
No casualty has been reported in the fire.
The building located deep inside the old city had clothes worth at least ₹30-40 lakhs at the time of the incident, all of which were lost in the fire, owner Kamal Garg said.
Garg said that the flames started with a short circuit on the ground floor around 9:30 am and in no time engulfed the whole building.
“I called the fire brigade and they had started their efforts by 10 am,” he said.
“Most of the workers who work in the godown have gone to their native places and today there were around 4-5 boys present at the shop when the fire broke out,” he said.
Garg said that the workers at the shop were able to come out of the building timely. However, the blaze was so strong that it took the fire brigade around four hours to completely douse it.
The walls on the topmost floor were so badly affected that they even caved on one side leading to rubble falling on the road. The police closed the streets around the building.
“The first call was received by the fire station at Sundar Nagar, and despite the congested roads, our first truck was here in three minutes,” said Fire Officer Atish Rai, who supervised the entire operation.
At least three fire stations, Sunder Nagar, Focal Point, Gill Road, and the headquarters were engaged in what Rai called a “major fire call.” The fire brigade used 25 trucks, and 35 men to carry out the operation.
“This is a very congested area, the roads are small and that too have been encroached by shopkeepers. Slowing down the trucks is also the dense web of wires which covers the entire market,” Rai said.
