Blaze in the heart of Lucknow sparks panic
A fire at a food stall at Sanatkada Festival spread to other shops and gutted jute decorations at the venue; no casualties. People raised an alarm, prompting stall owners to carry LPG cylinders on their shoulders to prevent any further damage, said eyewitnesses
LUCKNOW A massive fire that broke out at a food stall at the Salempur Estate behind the Safed Baradari, hosting the Sanatkada Lucknow Festival, spread to at least 10 to 11 other stalls in the Bawarchi Tola, triggering panic among nearly 1,000 visitors present there around 2pm on Monday, waiting for cultural performances to begin as part of the fest. There were no casualties or injuries to anyone in the incident, said officials.

A spark from a burner spread like wildfire across other stalls and gutted the jute decorations at the venue, after which people raised an alarm and started running out, prompting stall owners to carry LPG cylinders on their shoulders to prevent any further damage, said eyewitnesses.
“Domestic cylinders were being used at the food stalls. Soon after the fire, refrigerator compressors began bursting, which made people run away,” said a fire department officer.
The venue had fire safety equipment, but nobody knew how to operate it, which led to the flames spreading to the other shops. The blaze, which broke out when food was being cooked, could have been bigger, had it not been controlled in time, said chief fire officer Mangesh Kumar, who reached the spot. An investigation is on to ascertain if there was a short circuit, he added.
“Five fire tenders were pressed into service. The blaze, fueled by strong wind, spread quickly as the shops were made of jute and bamboo,” said RK Rawat, fire station officer, Hazratganj.
“The fire broke at the food stall next to ours, and the strong wind gave fuel to the flames. The jute decoration material caught fire from the burner...,” said Rahul Singh, 30. At the time of incident, people were
The blaze flared up to such an extent that the skyline resembled a “large black cloud of smoke”. A few Good Samaritans in the organisers’ team got people evacuated, and a few began extinguishing the fire with extinguishers and hose pipes brought from Safed Baradari. It was at this moment that fire personnel reached there and controlled the situation.
Komal Gupta, 16, a vendor at the festival who was with his father, said: “Our entire family had turned up for the festival. We came out one after other, but our hands and feet continued to tremble for a long time thinking about the worst-case scenario.”
“We heard a loud sound as soon as we came out. We even saw fire extinguishers near the food stalls, but by the time we could think of anything, the fire had already spread,” said Amitayush Yadav, 24, another eyewitness.
“There were no casualties or injuries to anybody. The fire safety training of our team helped control the situation till the firefighting team arrived. Cultural programmes have begun and our services resumed at Baradari after a halt of two hours. Film screenings scheduled for Salempur Estate will be held later as part of Lucknow Bioscope, the dates of which will be announced soon. The ‘Sarod and Slide Guitar Duet’ has been rescheduled at 8.30pm at Safed Baradari on Tuesday,” said Madhvi Kuckreja, founder, Sanatkada Lucknow Festival.