A major fire broke out in the basement of a shopping complex at Electronics Street near Pallimukku, reducing eight bikes parked in the area to ashes on Thursday around 3.30 p.m.
The fire is also reported to have consumed electronic items and spare parts though the exact value of the loss is yet to be assessed. Timely intervention by fire and rescue personnel stopped the fire from spreading to shops in the four-storied building housing 21 shops.
The cause of the fire is yet to be traced though the Fire and Rescue Services Department is looking at two possibilities. “Either a short circuit caused the fire or the waste dumped in the basement might have caught fire accidentally from a cigarette butt carelessly thrown by a person,” said A. Unnikrishnan, Station Officer at Gandhi Nagar fire station.
The basement was dumped with a lot of paper and electronic waste, resulting in the fire flaring up. It is not clear whether the basement was also being used as a godown of sorts in which case fresh electronic goods and spare parts would also have been lost.
Six fire tenders from Club Road and Gandhi Nagar fire stations and 60-odd firemen doused the fire in around 45 minutes. “We had called for backup from Thrikkakara fire station as well in the event of the fire spreading to shops. But that wasn’t needed. While the fire was extinguished in 45 minutes, it took even longer for the smoke to subside,” said Mr. Unnikrishnan.
