18 hours on, fire continues to rage at Kolkata's Bagri Market; two firemen sustain minor injuries

Sep 16 (AZINS) Eighteen hours after a massive fire erupted early on Sunday at a multi-storey building on Kolkata's Bagri Market, firefighters are still struggling to douse the blaze.

The fire department said while two firemen sustain minor injuries, two firefighters suffered minor injuries during the operation to douse the blaze.

"Fire at the front side of the building has been brought under control. The operation is underway to douse fire at the backside," Director general of West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services, Jagmohan, said.

Even after 18 hours of firefighting, the fire continued to rage. Till late evening on Sunday, as many as 30 fire tenders continued to douse the fire but it was far from being brought under control. Jagmohan added that it will take 24 to 48 hours to douse the blaze.

The market is around a kilometre away from the Writers' Building and the Reserve Bank of India office, a senior fire official said. "We need time to contain the flames as four to five floors of the building are completely engulfed in fire. The shops were stacked with inflammable materials like plastic toys, deodorants, fabrics and chemicals," he said.

"We are doing our best to tackle the situation. Initially, water was sprayed from outside. But now, we have managed to enter the building. Also, two firemen have received minor injuries during the operation," Jagmohan said.

Though no casualty or injuries were reported in the fire, as many as six people took ill amidst the fire fighting operations. Four locals who had extended help to the fire department officials and two other fire fighters took ill after inhaling the smoke.

The fire broke out at around 2.30 am on Sunday morning at the ground floor of the Bagri Market. The fire rapidly spread to the other floors of the building. Within the next two hours, three blocks – A, B and C of the total five blocks were completely ravaged by fire.

Locals alleged that the fire tenders arrived much later and the skylift was returned after electrical wires prevented it from being used to douse the fire.

“The fire broke out around 2.30am and the fire tenders arrived late. Had they arrived on time, this incident could have been averted. The skylift that was brought in could not be used due to the electrical wires. Hydraulic ladders could also not be used for the same reason,” said a shop owner Hitesh Jain.

The fire fighters and other officials could enter the building only 10 hours after the fire broke out.

"As the area is very congested, we are finding it difficult to work. We are using ladders and gas cutters to enter the building through window grills. A forensic team will be visiting the site soon to ascertain the cause behind the incident," the senior fire official was quoted as saying by PTI.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who left for business summits in Germany and Italy around 9.45 am, told reporters at the airport, "Nobody is trapped in the building."

Unconfirmed reports said people living on the top floor of the building managed to escape as soon as the fire broke out.

Located near Burrabazar area -- the commercial hub of the city -- the six-storey building has as many entry gates.

Fearing that the blaze may spread, people were also evacuated from adjacent buildings.

A few shop owners alleged that fire officials took time to start the operation. Some were also seen trying to enter the building forcefully, but were stopped by police and fire department officials.

Anil Mehta, one of the shop owners, said, "I have lost everything in the blaze. My store as well as the godown has been gutted in the fire."

Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee blamed congested road for the fire fighting operations not beginning on time.

“You have seen the roads are so congested. It is taking very long for our fire tenders to reach the exact spot. In fact because of the electrical wires, we could not use the ladders. But, we will do whatever it takes to douse the fire. We will carry out an investigation later to find out whether the building has enough firefighting systems in place,” Chatterjee, who reached the spot along with senior police officers and Kolkata disaster management group (DMG) officials, said.

In some of the floors, massive cracks developed on the walls and smoke kept billowing out of those cracks. Police officials said that in some portion of the building, the ceiling had started falling off, posing a risk of collapse.

Meanwhile, residents in the adjacent buildings were also evacuated to safer places to avoid any untoward incident in case if the fire spread to these buildings.