Fire in GK-2 residential building, 5 rescued

The five rescued persons were all examined and were out of danger.

Firefighters rescued five people from a fire in a two-storey residential building in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash 2, early on Sunday. There were no casualties in the blaze, which broke out on the first floor of the building, while all the five rescued were trapped on the second.

The incident was reported to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) around 4am, after which four tenders were rushed to the spot.

The incident was reported to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) around 4am, after which four tenders were rushed to the spot.

Director DFS, Atul Garg said, “It looked like the fire started in one of the five air-conditioners on the first floor. Since there was a lot of smoke on the staircase, it was difficult for the occupants of the building to escape. Our personnel entered the building wearing hazmat suits and rescued five persons one by one, safely. None of them were injured,” Garg said.

The five rescued persons were all examined and were out of danger, he said.

The fire was also doused after an hour. “Since it was a residential area, our focus was to not let the blaze spread to adjoining buildings,” Garg said.

In another incident on Sunday morning, 200 furniture shops were gutted after a fire at Shastri Park furniture market. While no casualties were reported, hundreds of pieces of furniture were lost in the fire.

The fire broke out around 12.45am.

Garg said they sent 27 fire tenders and more than 1,000 firefighters to contain the fire. “It took us more than three hours to douse the fire. Cooling operations continued for even longer. No casualties were reported in the incident because the market was vacant when the fire spread across the market. But because a lot of wooden material was stashed in these shops, it was difficult for our personnel to stop the fire from spreading,” Garg said.

He said they are still ascertaining the cause of the fire.