Fire breaks out at five-storey building in Howrah, none injured

Kolkata: A fire broke out on the ground floor of a five-storey building in the Sandhyabazar area in Howrah on Wednesday afternoon. Locals tried to douse the flames using sand and water. Later, two fire tenders controlled the fire within an hour.

According to locals, they saw smoke billowing out of a building at around 1:30 pm on Wednesday. When some of them went to check, they noticed that a fire broke out inside the meter box on the ground floor. Within moments the smoke spread all over

the building. A nationalised bank situated on the first floor was also got filled with

the smoke.

The bank was full of customers at the moment. On seeing smoke, people tried to get out of the building but could not because the fire had occurred just beside the stair. Panic stricken people started screaming inside the building.

Police and fire brigade were immediately informed. Meanwhile, some locals managed to bring sand and pour it on the fire source. They also started spreading water on the meter box that caught fire. Within a few moments two fire tenders reached the spot and started dousing the flames. A few of the fire fighters went up and started evacuating the occupants of the building.

All the people stuck were evacuated safely. The cooling process went on. It is suspected that the fire occurred due to a short circuit in the meter box. No casualty was reported. The damage is yet to be ascertained.