A fire broke out on the ninth floor of the Bombay Teachers’ Training College (BTTC) at Colaba at 1 p.m. on Sunday. It was doused after two hours. There were no casualties.
The 2nd to 9th floors of the building house the college and its offices, and the fire broke out in one of BTTC’s offices. It was categorised as level II (minor) fire and five fire engines and four jumbo tankers with two hose lines were sent to the spot at 1.10 p.m. At 2 p.m., two bus routes had to be diverted because of firefighting operations.
The building was under repairs, and the labourers ran out of the building on noticing the fire. The fire damaged the furniture, stationery, wiring, and electric appliances.
“The offices were shut and we had to break open one of the doors. The entire space was filled with smoke,” said Fort fire station officer A.A. Yadav, who attended the call. He said the scaffolding posed another challenge as it could catch fire. Firemen had to spray water from a turntable ladder. The blaze started this afternoon in the 10-storey building located near Regal cinema in Colaba, he said.
The blaze was doused by 3.30 p.m. A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact reason for the fire.