Thankfully, no deaths or major injuries were reported. Residents managed to escape from the terrace and some were rescued by firefighters.
A major fire broke out today in a residential building in Gyan Khand 1, Indirapuram. The fire in the two-storeyed building on Plot No 236 was started by a short circuit in the building’s electricity mainframe on the ground floor and spread to the upper floors around 11:20 am. The CNG pipeline, too, caught fire, which aggravated the situation. Thankfully, no loss of life or injuries were reported. However, two scooters parked next to the meter boxes were charred.
The fire first reached the scooter parked next to the electricity meter boxes and caused a leak in the CNG pipeline in the building. The flames then reached the second scooter parked beside the building’s entry gate. According to officials of the fire department, who were alerted around 11.23 am, the fuel tanks of the scooters had exploded.
The flames were arrested just on time, before they could enter the flats. The stairwell and the landing area, however, were charred and covered in soot. The heat from the fire caused the ceramic tiles to peel off the walls.
The charred stairwell
“I spotted the fire in the meter boxes while passing the building around 11.20 am, and informed a female resident of the building. I then rushed the nearby electricity office to disconnect the power,” said Jeetu, a construction worker who lives in an open plot next to the building.
The residents of the building were stuck in their flats, unable to escape from the flaming stairwell. Kavita Maheshwari, the only ground-floor resident present at the time of the fire, managed to rush outside on seeing the fire. Some of the first-floor residents were rescued by firefighters, while others used their own make-shift means. “I used three dhotis tied together to form a rope to climb down the balcony of my flat,” said Atul Gupta, a first-floor resident.
About 12 residents of the second floor, including children, climbed up to the terrace and managed to escape to the terrace of the adjacent building. The residents used a bamboo ladder to bridge the 1-metre distance between the buildings. “We could not use the stairs, so we only had the terrace to run to,” said Suraj Pal Singh, 63, a second-floor resident of the building. “We were helped by residents of the adjacent building to cross over.” Vedik, Singh’s 2.5-year-old grandson, was also with him when he escaped.
The gap between the two buildings, which the residents bridged to escape
Speaking to City Spidey, Somdath Sonkar, fire station officer with the Vaishali fire station, confirmed that the fire took place due to a short circuit in the building’s electricity meters. “All the residents were rescued on time, and the fire was put out before it could enter the flats. Two teams of firefighters were deployed, one for rescue operations and other for extinguishing the fire,” Sonkar added.
However, he maintained that the building did not have a firefighting system, which could have been crucial in the situation. “Residents should keep basic equipment like fire extinguishers at home, in case something like this happens again. They can help control the situation till the firefighting team reaches the spot. Residents should also refrain from parking vehicles so close to electricity circuits,” Sonkar added.
The space near the meter boxes, where the short circuit happened
