Seven shops on Town Hall Road were destroyed in fire that broke out on Wednesday night.
Fire and Rescue services personnel from City fire station struggled for more than two hours to douse the flames. The fire was first noticed in a shop that takes up sales and service of wrist watches. The watchman of Khadi Kraft showroom, situated opposite to these shops, alerted neighbouring shop owners after noticing smoke billowing out from the roof of the shop.
Though Fire and Rescue Services personnel rushed to the spot within a few minutes, they could not take up fire fighting at once as overhead electric cable was running close to the shops that sell electronic goods and clothes.
Koodal Alagar Kovil Teppam All Small Traders Welfare Association president R.S. Sundar Babu said goods worth several lakhs were destroyed in the fire. Raising suspicion over possibility of sabotage, he wondered how could the fire break out within minutes after the shops were closed.“We usually close the shops between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The owner had left only a few minutes earlier and there was fire on its roof,” he said.
The tin-roof shops had no battery for uninterrupted power supply. Besides, all the shopkeepers have the practice of switching off the mains to cut off power supply before closing the shops, he said.
The association has lodged a complaint with Thideer Nagar police station. The police were verifying video footage of closed-circuit television cameras in the vicinity.
Over 100 shops were located around the temple tank. After the temple authorities ordered eviction, the shopkeepers sought an alternative site to shift their shops, Mr. Babu said.
District Fire Officer Vinod and Additional DFO Pandi supervised the fire fighting exercise carried out by six tenders.
Since all furniture and goods were highly combustible, the fire spread fast, said Station Fire Officer R. Venkatesan.
