Fire guts 21 huts in Pune, no casualties

The police and fire brigade officials have identified an explosion of a kerosene stove in a hutment in Patil Estate slums, on the Mumbai-Pune National Highway in Wakdewadi, as the cause of the catastrophic fire that engulfed the slum on Saturday.

According to the Naidu fire station chief Vijay Bhilare, the fire started in the afternoon, and soon had spread across the slums. “The portable kerosene stoves used for cooking in the slum had suddenly overturned, causing an explosion. That is the reason for the fire,” he said.

Such stoves are common in the slums because of their fuel economy. The fire quickly spread across the slum and had gutted 21 hutments in a span of a few hours. 

However, no casualities have been recorded. It took 11 fire tenders from Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Khadki, apart from some water tankers parked near the new Sangamwadi bridge, to put out the blaze in a hour.

The slum has been in existence for the last 40 years and about 2,000 people live in it. The slum is surrounded by the National Highway, the new Sangamwadi bridge, the Mula river and a multi-storey commercial building.

The police had a tough controlling the crowd. As a precautionary measure, one side of the National Highway was closed for some time.

Local MLC Anil Bhosale, who visited the slum, has announced compensation of Rs20,000 each to those whose huts were gutted.