The market was closed today to aide fire-fighting operations.
A century-old building in the city's wholesale Burrabazar market was today destroyed in a massive fire that was brought under control by 35 fire-tenders after nearly 17 hours of continuous effort.
The firemen found it difficult to fight the blaze, which broke out at around 9.30 PM last night, as movement of water tankers and equipment was severely handicapped by the narrow lane where the three-storied building stood, a fire department official said. The building housed several godowns containing inflammable materials, making the task of the fire-fighters even more difficult. "The house is located inside narrow lanes, so narrow that quick movement of men and water tanks close to the structure proved very tough. However, our officers fought tooth and nail throughout the night to contain the blaze," the officer said.
Fearing that the structure may collapse, the police had evacuated the building and adjacent houses last night, besides controlling traffic movement on nearby roads. The ceiling of the third floor of the building collapsed and the wooden staircase leading to the roof was totally gutted, the official said. "Though the fire has been doused completely, we continued the cooling-off process to ensure that there was no 'pocket-fire' in the area,"he said.
Fire Services Minister and city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who supervised the fire-fighting work almost throughout the night, told PTI that and an investigation into the incident would be conducted.
On whether the KMC would bring down the building after the fire, Chatterjee said, "the building is already destroyed in the fire. We have to ensure that everybody in the surrounding locality is safe because of its location in the congested area." The fire department official said that the cause of the fire was being ascertained and also whether the storage of inflammable materials quickened the spread of the fire. Traders in the Burrabazar area kept the Bagri market closed for the entire day to facilitate the fire-fighting operation.
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 "Burrabazar fire")
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