Massive fire erupts at multi-storeyed building near Exide Crossing

Kolkata: A major fire broke out at a multi-storeyed building near Exide crossing on Friday morning. Twelve fire tenders were pressed into action and the flames was doused after almost three hours. None was hurt or trapped in the building.

On Friday morning, around 9:30 am, fire broke out at an office of an interior decoration company on the 4th floor of a multi-storied building located on 60, Chowringhee Road, popularly known as Mukherjee Building.

Within a few minutes thick black smoke covered the entire Exide crossing and Bishop Lefroy Road. Occupants of the building ran out of the apartment in panic and people residing in adjacent buildings also got frightened seeing the thick black smoke and they too rushed out of their homes.

Police and fire brigade were immediately informed. Primarily three fire tenders were sent to douse the flames but fire fighters realised that the intensity of the fire is quite high and therefore fire brigade control room was asked to send more fire tenders. Later, in two phases eight more fire tenders were sent at the incident site.

At the first, fire fighters evacuated all the apartments adjacent to Mukherjee building. While a section of firefighters sprayed water from the ground floor, other firefighters divided into two groups sprayed water from other buildings. The Disaster Management Group (DMG), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation

(CESC) also joined the fire fighters to bring the flames under control.

The situation turned serious when a major vertical crack developed on the building due to the heat. Soon, a huge portion of the building collapsed. According to firefighters, the building was weak and therefore it collapsed but necessary safety precautions were taken in this regard.

Fire minister Sujit Bose and Director General of Fire Jag Mohan arrived at the spot to take stock of the situation. After an elaborate discussion with the fire officials, Bose said: "Senior officials have visited the spot. The flames were brought under controlled after two hours. Though a part of the building collapsed, no one is trapped or injured. Some parts of the apartment need to be demolished. KMC will take a decision on that. An inquiry will be conducted to find out whether the building authorities have mandatory fire license and no objection certificates. Stringent action will be taken if negligence is found on anybody's part. Some residents told me that they were alerted by the fire alarm."

According to CESC, engineers reached the site within 20 minutes and found that the fire erupted on the 4th floor of the multi-storied building. After consulting the fire brigade officials, power supply to the affected building was re-energised within 5 minutes. CESC engineers and workers kept a minute-to-minute watch till the fire was completely doused. Later, after the clearance given by the fire brigade, power supply was restored.