A fire broke out at a textile showroom at Arcot and damaged goods worth ₹2 crore before it was put out in the early hours of Friday.
The firefighters battled for more than six hours to put out the blaze, which the police said might have been caused by an electric short circuit.
Around 9.45 p.m. on Thursday, a security guard saw smoke emanating from the ground floor of Kamal Silks, located near the bus terminus, and alerted the local fire office, which rushed fire tenders.
With the fire running to the first floor of the four-storey building, more fire tenders were deployed from the neighbouring Ranipet, the SIPCOT complex (Ranipet), Katpadi and Kalavai. A 35-member team of fire fighters, led by District Fire Officer C. Lakshmi Narayanan, worked all night and extinguished the fire around 4 a.m. on Friday.
“The fire was prevented from spreading to the neighbouring buildings. A police probe is under way to ascertain the cause,” said R. Parimella Devi, Station Fire Officer, Arcot region.
Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian and SP Deepa Satyam rushed to the spot. The police said the building developed cracks. residents of the area complained of breathlessness because of the thick smoke that poured out of the building. A case has been registered by the Arcto Town police.
