Fire at furniture market, slum in ITO

Over 2,000 people evacuated, rescue operation continues for hours; damage evaluation to take time

NEW DELHI, 12/03/2017: A massive fire broke out near Mata Sundari College early hours of Sunday, New Delhi. Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma.

A furniture market near Delhi University’s Mata Sundari College in ITO caught fire early on Sunday morning.

Officials from the Delhi Fire Service said that the fire broke out around 4:20 a.m. and spread across the nearby slum cluster, which is home to nearly 2,000 people. People were evacuated safely and over 30 fire tenders rushed to the spot to douse the flames.

Cylinder blasts

However, it was not until late afternoon that the fire was controlled. The cooling operation and the rehabilitation of the slum residents was on till late night. Fire officials said that the exact extent of the damage will be known after the cooling and rescue operations are over. “The fire was made worse by five successive cylinder blasts which took place within the space of an hour. We found that the combustible material such as varnish and spirit kept inside the furniture shops acted as fuel,” said chief fire officer Vipin Kentil, who was a part of the rescue operations.

Ram Manohar, a 36-year-old resident said that he woke up to the screams of his neighbours. He said the residents called the fire department but it took over an hour for the tenders to reach the spot.

“If they had reached early, the loss would not have been so much. My entire shanty has been burned down. I do not know what is left of it because the officials are not letting us cross the barricades,” said Mr. Manohar as he anxiously watched the fire fighters douse the blaze.

‘Not first time’

The residents also complained that the negligence of the godown owners resulted in a huge loss for them. They also said that this was not the first time such a fire broke out in the neighbourhood. “Most of the owners of the furniture market live around Turkman Gate and come here to work. They did not lose anything. It was us, who live here, that lost out our life’s savings,” said Nazma, a resident of the slums.