Fire incidents at Dum Dum Metro car shed, market in Howrah

Two incidents of fire took place at Metro railway car shed in Dum Dum and a market place in Howrah resulting in the loss of property.

Fire broke out at the Metro railway car shed in Dum Dum on Tuesday morning. The employees there used railway’s own fire extinguishing technology to douse the flame before two fire tenders reached the spot. The fire brigade officers inspected the car shed area. They will make a report of the incident on the basis of their inspection. “The employees in the car shed extinguished the flame before the firefighters reached there. But we’ve inspected the area. We’ll submit a report in our department,” said a fire brigade officer. 

After witnessing the flame, the panicked employees ran out of the car shed. The security officers of the Metro railway brought out the fire extinguishers to douse the flame which could be seen in battery room of the car shed. The fire brigade was called up later. 

The fire in car shed could not affect normal metro service in morning. “The source of fire is probably a short circuit. This fire could have led to huge devastation in the car shed. Some employees used fire extinguisher right at the time when it was required. They’ve maintained proper fire safety there. It was just an accident,” the fire brigade officer added.

It will be recalled that an air-conditioned train of Kolkata Metro railway was damaged, after a fire broke out inside the car shed in 2011. The employees saw the smoke coming out from the car shed and called up the fire brigade. The fire fighters doused the flame within half an hour.

In another incident, around 10 shops on Belilious road in Howrah were gutted in fire. Three fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the flame. According to the preliminary investigation, an electrical short circuit might have been the cause of the fire. The incident had triggered panic among the local residents. The fire soon spread as the shops are situated in congested area. The fire tenders brought the fire under control after two hours. The fire department and police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.

On late Saturday night, fire broke out in a market in front of Malbazar SDO office. At least 12 shops were gutted there. Five fire tenders rushed to the spot, but could not prevent the destruction of those shops. The shop keepers, who reached the spot on Saturday night, only saw their shops reduced to ashes in front of them.