A massive fire broke out at Rama Building in Connaught Place here on Monday morning, causing damage to several shops. The absence of emergency fire exits and a single entry point impeded the fire fighting exercise. Firemen had to break concrete structures to create a makeshift opening.
No civilian casualty was reported but three Delhi Fire Service officials sustained minor injuries during the eight-hour-long fire fighting exercise. Narrating the events, a tourist guide Bhola said the fire started at an NIIT centre on the third floor and spread to the fitness centre on the second floor and other parts of the building.
“I came here to have a cup of tea when I saw smoke coming out of the building. People who were there in the gym immediately evacuated the premises,” he said. A security guard was also reported to be inside NIIT office when the fire broke out.
A call was made to the fire control room around 7-50 a.m. and two fire tenders reached the spot from the nearby Barakhamba Fire Station within minutes. More tenders soon joined and in all 15 were deployed to control the blaze. A sky-lift, used in cases of high-rise fires, was also used to douse the blaze.
As an added safety measure, some gates of Rajiv Chowk metro station leading to A-Block remained closed for some time, causing chaos at the station. This was after a large crowd had gathered around the scene to witness fire officers fighting the flames.
Talking about the hurdles in fire fighting, Chief Fire Officer G.C. Mishra said: “The building consists of only one entrance and most of the windows were blocked with cupboards and plywood making it difficult for us to enter the rooms.”
The operation was completed around 3 p.m. after which the normal movement in CP was restored.
While the cause of the fire has still not been ascertained, the police suspect that a short-circuit led to it.
Manish Gogia, who runs a travel agency in an adjacent building, said air conditioner blasts were quite common in the area as many complexes had more ACs than allowed, which resulted in overloading.
(Richa Pandey is an intern with ‘The Hindu’)
