Fire breaks out in building, stalls traffic

Traffic was held up on Chamiers Road for nearly an hour, as firefighters attempted to put out a fire that started in the elevator of a building under renovation.

The two-storey building earlier housed a Korean restaurant and was being renovated to accommodate a new restaurant. One of the workers, Munikrishnan, who was working on the elevator when the fire started, said, “Three of us were attempting to loosen the cables of the old lift so that we could begin work to replace the elevator on Monday. Suddenly, there were a couple of sparks and smoke started bellowing out of the elevator vent.”

The workers ran out to the terrace, and the fire services were called. Two fire engines from Saidapet and Teynampet were called in to put out the fire, an official from the fire and rescue services said.

Indira Premkumar, who works in an Aavin parlour across the road from the building, said she suddenly saw smoke coming out of the building and then the fire engines arrived and the police started diverting traffic, causing a small pile-up in the area. “There was a lot of smoke in the area starting around 3 p.m. and, for almost an hour, traffic in the area was being diverted, but most residents didn’t really know what was happening,” she said.

The police said they diverted the traffic to allow more room for the firefighters. “Since it is a main road, we also wanted to ensure that cars, pedestrians and other vehicles were not affected,” a police officer said.

According to the building’s engineer, S. Kamalraj, since the lift was very old, there was a lot of debris at the bottom and the cable of the old lift also caught fire, resulting in a lot of smoke. “I inspected the building, and there is no real damage,” he said.