Pune: A fire broke out in the basement parking lot of a housing society in Chinchwad in the early hours of Thursday.It damaged 14 vehicles and forced residents to rush to the terrace to escape the thick smoke. Fifteen stranded residents were rescued by the fire brigade, while one person sustained minor burns. Venkatesh Hardas, head of Pimpri Chinchwad fire brigade, told TOI, “Four fire tenders reached the spot and doused the fire. Prima facie, a short circuit appears to have caused the fire. Our investigation is underway.”Fire officer Gautam Ingawale of Pimpri Chinchwad fire brigade told TOI that the fire broke out around 2 am in the basement parking lot of a four-storey commercial-cum-residential building near Chapekar Chowk in Chinchwad. Two floors of the building housed shops, tuition classes and other establishments, while the remaining two floors were residential. “The building has a single entrance. The fire broke out in the parking lot, and thick smoke entered the flats above, making it difficult for residents to breathe. As they could not get out of the building, they rushed to the terrace.”Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus sets checked all the flats to ensure that no one, particularly senior citizens, was trapped inside. They then reached the terrace, shifted the residents to the terrace of a neighbouring building and rescued them safely. “The fire damaged at least 14 vehicles, including 12 two-wheelers, two cars and a bicycle. A transformer on the building’s premises was also damaged. It took us about an hour to extinguish the blaze completely,” Ingawale said.Senior police inspector Dattatrya Chaskar of Chinchwad police said a resident who sustained minor burns was taken to a hospital. “We are investigating what started the fire.”
