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Fire breaks out at Mussoorie’s iconic Sidus Rink hotel
Prima facie, the reason behind the fire is believed to be a short circuit. The fire department has begun the investigation into the incident, said fire station officials in Mussoorie
A massive fire engulfed the iconic roller skating rink cum hotel– Sidus Rink – turning it into ashes while the two vehicles parked below the rink were also entirely burnt in the fire that broke out around 3am in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie on Sunday, officials said.
Police said the teams from the fire service station and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were rushed to the spot to douse the fire, which was controlled after more than four hours.
No loss of life was reported as the property was shut due to the ongoing renovation work.
Prima facie, the reason behind the fire is believed to be a short circuit. The fire department has begun the investigation into the incident, said fire station officials in Mussoorie.
Dhiraj Singh Tadiyal, fire station officer Mussoorie said, “Two fire tender vehicles from and one from Dehradun fire station were roped in and over 40 lakh litres water was used, which was filled from the hydrant that existed near the building otherwise we would have to return to fire station to fill the empty tanks which could have led to more delays.”
“Prima facie short circuit looks as the main reason and we have begun the investigation to ascertain the reasons behind the fire,” said Tadiyal.
However, the firefighters had a difficult time reaching the spot due to the vehicles parked on the roadside from Camel’s Back roadside.
“We had to return from Camel’s Back and take another route from Green Chowk as our fire tending vehicles could not pass through from Camel’s Back area due to parked cars thus resulting in 10 minutes delay”, said Tadiyal.
Shankar Singh Bisht, the Station House Officer (SHO) at Mussoorie Police Station, said: “The fire tenders team along with over 25 ITBP personnel were rushed to the spot which was undergoing an extensive renovation near Deep Hotel in Camels Back road and were able to douse the fire after a struggle of over four hours in the morning.”
Arun Pratap Singh, owner of Sidus Rink, who was inside his room when the fire broke out said, “I was sleeping in my room when suddenly I was woken up by the smoke. Hastily, I rushed to the bathroom and locked it from inside and rang up the staff who were sleeping in the other room. They came pulled me out breaking the window pane of the bathroom.”
“My father, who was an advocate in Belgium, was a frequent visitor to Mussoorie and was fond of the iconic roller Skating Rink property. He bought the property two years ago and currently, renovation work was going on when the incident happened,” Singh said.
Sanjay Agarwal, president of Mussoorie Hotel Association said, “Most of the infrastructure of the building was built mainly of wood and a portion of the rink still poses a threat to passerby from Camels Back as it could crumble down at any given moment so we have requested the police department to barricade the area until it does not become safe to cross the road.”
Rohit Prasad, a resident of Kulri bazaar whose Santro vehicle was parked below the rink and burnt in fire said, “ I had reached Mussoorie on Saturday night and upon finding no parking place, I parked my vehicle below the rink but when I woke up in the Sunday morning it had burnt completely along with all the documents kept inside it.”
