Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Another day, another fire incident spread panic among people as a massive blaze erupted in one of the city's busiest routes on Saturday evening. The raging flames engulfed around 10 shops, three two-wheelers and an auto rickshaw parked outside on the road at Patel Pratima in Chhoti Gwaltoli police station area around 4:30 pm. However, no casualties were reported in the incident, only goods worth lakhs of rupees stored in shops were gutted.
Due to fire, the high-tension line and electric poles near the shop also broke down and fell on the road. The crowd gathered at the spot, leading to a traffic bottleneck on the road which was cleared later. The police team, fire brigade team and the IMC team reached the spot to control the situation.
ASI Susheel Kumar, Gandhi Hall fire brigade in-charge, stated that the fire brigade reached the spot within 10 minutes after they received information about the incident. Two fire tenders and two tankers controlled the fire within two hours of the incident, using around 94k litres of water to douse the flames. Around 10 shops were gutted in the incident. The JCB machine of IMC was used to raze down around five shops to fully control the fire.
The fire erupted from a Sanwariya Oil Fit shop owned by Rajesh Gurjar after oil thinner, a flammable substance stored in the shop, fell on the ground and caught fire. The shop owner tried to douse the flames with water, but it spread rapidly to the adjacent shops. The shops burned in the incident include Janta Auto Garage owned by Saheed, New Anar Auto Parts and two other shops owned by Ashfaq Ahmed Ansari, Royal Auto Electronic owned by Ashok Yadav, Shrinath Yadav Travels owned by Manohar Yadav, Indore Engineering Works owned by Dildar Hussain, Ashok Vikash Travels owned by Vikash Yadav, and Balaji Everfresh owned by Vishal Yadav.
Two major incidents in three days
The city has reported two major fire incidents in the past three days, including a major blaze in Industry House in which over 70 people were rescued. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in both incidents, but these types of fire pose a potential threat of a major disaster. There is a trend indicating an increase in the number of fire incidents during summer. Consequently, the authorities have also pulled up their socks and begun inspection of firefighting systems in major buildings.
STORY OF DEVASTATION
Malu Kumar Rathod, auto driver
– I came to the shop to repair my auto. I parked my auto outside the shop and went to a nearby place to eat something. When I got to know that a fire erupted in the shop where my auto was parked, I returned and my auto and other shops were burning.
Ashfaq Ahmed Ansari
– I owned three shops which were burned in the fire. The fire erupted in Sanwariya Oil shop. The shop owner stored fuel, kerosene oil illegally and used to sell fuel illegally. The fire erupted due to his negligence. The fire brigade also came late and by then goods in shops were gutted
Manohar Yadav
– I owned Shrinath Yadav Travels and I had gone to my house for lunch when the incident occurred. When I returned, my shop was gutted. The cash in drawer, documents, furniture and all other important things got burnt.
Vishal Yadav
– I owned Balaji Everfresh and I was at the shop along with my nephew Aryan when the incident occurred. The cash, coffee machine and three refrigerators were burned in the fire.’
Vikash Yadav – I owned Ashok Vikash Travels. Luggage of customers was kept in the shop and around 30 pieces of luggage were burnt in the incident
