Ghaziabad: A major fire broke out in a dark store of Instamart on Kala Patthar Road in Indirapuram and spread to adjacent furniture warehouses, a diagnostic centre and a housing society behind it.No casualties were reported in the incident but goods in the store and furniture in the affected shops were destroyed. As a precaution, the fire department had to evacuate houses and shops as smoke engulfed the nearby area. While the cause has not been determined yet, chief fire officer Saurabh Kumar Singh said the fire is believed to have been triggered by a short circuit in an air conditioning unit in the quick commerce store.The blaze broke out around 4pm, a fire department official said. Before a team from the fire department could arrive at the spot, the flames had spread to two furniture warehouses located beside the dark store, a nidan kendra (diagnostic centre) and the nearby LIG flats. Teams from adjacent police stations, SDRF and the fire department rushed to the site. An official said 12 fire tenders were dispatched and it took around two hours to douse the blaze.
The fire was doused in a two-hour-long operation
During the evacuation operation, police and the fire department team conducted an intensive inspection of all the LIG flats. More than five families were rescued. A woman and her pet dog were rescued from the third floor, which had filled up with smoke.The woman said she was sleeping when the fire broke out and did not realise when the smoke had spread to her flat. “It took more than five minutes for me to realise that the bell was ringing and when I opened, they told me about the fire. They safely took me out of the building,” she said.Washing machines, AC units and coolers kept outside many of the flats were damaged.The incident also triggered panic in the area, with people rushing out of houses and shops to escape the fire. A crowd gathered on the road, causing a traffic jam. Police later dispersed the crowd.
