A fire breakout on the top floor of a four-storey godown of a home appliances major in a highly congested and densely populated locality of Karukappalli near Deshabhimani Junction in the city created a major scare on Friday evening.
The fire was noticed around 5.50 p.m. following which fire and rescue services teams from four stations rushed to the spot. The fire broke out on the top floor roofed with truss work where cardboard boxes were found stored in large quantity.
“It seemed that home appliances like refrigerators were packed at the place. Being highly inflammable, the entire lot of cardboard boxes were burnt in the fire. The floor immediately beneath was stocked with racks used for display of mobile phones, while the first floor served as a records room. The basement also had cardboard boxes,” said Babu V.V., station officer, Gandhi Nagar fire station.
Fortunately, firefighters were able to contain the blaze in the affected floor within an hour. While there was easy access to the top floor, firefighters had to enter inside by pulling down a portion of the floor, which had no ventilation. Anxious people had assembled in large numbers at the site since there was real danger of the fire spreading to nearby buildings, which stood cheek by jowl. To make matters worse, there was an LPG godown near the building.
Two fire tenders from the Gandhi Nagar station and one each from Club Road, Thrikkakara and Eloor stations doused the fire. District Fire Officer K. Harikumar supervised the operation.
