Sadar Bazar fire doused after nine hours

A fire that broke out at a four-storey hardware store and an adjoining plywood store in Sadar Bazar on Wednesday evening was doused by the fire department by Thursday morning in a nine-hour operation, officials said

A fire that broke out at a four-storey hardware store and an adjoining plywood store in Sadar Bazar on Wednesday evening was doused by the fire department by Thursday morning in a nine-hour operation, officials said.

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The two shops were gutted in the incident and only the basement of the two-storey plywood store was saved from the blaze. No injuries were reported in the incident, fire department officials said. The fire was reported at 6.43 pm on Wednesday and 25 fire tenders and a 42-metre hydraulic ladder were used in the operation.

“Initially, two fire tenders were sent to the spot from Bhim Nagar fire station and three more from the Sector 29 fire station. However, the extent of the blaze was extremely high and difficult to control. Subsequently, almost all fire tenders from the Gurugram fire department and tenders from DLF, Honda and Indian Air Force were used for dousing operations,” said IS Kashyap, assistant divisional fire safety officer.

“The blaze was controlled around 1 am and doused by 4 am on Thursday. However, due to the heavy presence of chemicals inside the hardware store, sparks continued sporadically, and tenders were used to douse the flames,” said Kashyap.

He said that all items were removed from the plywood store to ensure there was no fire trapped below the surface. However, as they were unsure of the structural stability of the hardware store, items are yet to be removed from it.

“We aren’t certain of the structural stability of the hardware store and did not want to take any chances. Hence, items have not been removed from the building so far. Smoke is still emitting from the building and we are working on various alternative measures to finalise the best way to proceed ahead,” said Kashyap.

Kashyap said that 24 of the 25 fire tenders returned to their respective fire stations by 12.30 pm on Thursday, with one fire tender from Bhim Nagar station retained at the spot as a precautionary measure.

“We were able to control the blaze at the right time, as the basement of the plywood store was filled with wooden items and if it was engulfed in flames, then the blaze could have continued till late Thursday afternoon and may have endangered the structural stability of the plywood store as well,” said Kashyap.

Fire department officials said that the owners of the two stores blamed each other for the fire, and are yet to ascertain the cause of it. Both the stores did not have a no-objection certificate from the fire department, officials said.