Ghaziabad: A fire broke out in the projector room of a movie theatre at the Pacific Mall in Kaushambi on Thursday morning. It took firefighters an hour to douse the flames. Though no casualties were reported, the cause of the fire remains unclear.Chief fire officer (CFO) Rahul Pal said they received information about the fire around 7.20am, and five fire tenders were sent to the spot initially, but five more were later engaged. Firefighters found that the fire started in the projector room of a movie theatre in the mall, Moviemax, causing thick smoke to spread throughout the premises.“The fire service unit laid eight lines of hose pipes and, using the mall’s in-built firefighting system, personnel wearing BA sets began extinguishing the fire. Considering the intensity of the fire, additional vehicles along with their officers-in-charge were also called in from Kotwali and Sahibabad fire stations,” the CFO said.Firefighters managed to douse the flames after around an hour, successfully preventing the blaze from spreading to the nearby hall and other shops in the vicinity. Due to the early hour, there were no shows playing at the time of the incident.“A total of 10 fire tenders, along with the mall’s in-built firefighting system, were used to completely extinguish the fire. Currently, smoke is being cleared from the premises with the help of exhaust systems,” Pal said.According to Pal, the mall has a fire NOC and firefighters found that all firefighting equipment on the premises was functioning properly. The cause of the fire has not been determined and fire officials are investigating. They suspect that a shortcircuit may have sparked the blaze, the CFO said.The area has been closed off to the public and a spokesperson from Moviemax said that shows will be suspended for the next few days while repairs are underway. “Today’s shows were also cancelled after the fire. We are assessing the loss but teams are working hard to get back the business,” the spokesperson said.
