Firemen face 14-hr ordeal to tackle inferno at electrical showroom

The inferno at Baldev Electricals in Books Market in the city on Sunday night kept firefighters on their toes for the whole night. The firemen had to face a 14-hour-long ordeal to control the intense fire. Since the showroom was multi-storey and the fire had also engulfed the entire building, the firemen fought against all odds and managed to douse the flames.

As per information, the fire broke out around 7 pm on Sunday night and it was completely doused at 9 am on Monday. Some of the firefighters had even remained on their jobs despite the end of their duty hours. Most members of the team continued to tackle hurdles coming in their way during night hours and refused to give up till the flames were doused.

The firefighters said over 90 rounds of fire tenders from night till the morning finally controlled the raging fire.

Though the area is perpetually jammed with crowds, no injuries were reported in the incident.

Rajinder Kumar, a leading fireman, said the firefighters, battled the fierce blaze not only from the street level on both sides of the shop but also strategically from roofs and windows of adjacent buildings. The scene was one of the utter chaos: thick, blinding smoke and an intense heat wave severely hampered their efforts to bring the situation under control.

“The five-storey structure was packed to the brim with highly flammable stock, allowing the fire to rapidly consume every floor. We undertook the painstaking process of quelling the inferno floor by floor. The building itself suffered structural damage, developing noticeable cracks. The dense smoke reduced visibility to zero for hours, forcing the teams to remain on site till approximately 9 am, the following morning.

“We were lucky that the traffic congestion was relatively low this Sunday evening and our main central fire station is close by. Otherwise, it would have been an even tougher assignment, especially with the constant risk of the fire spreading to the closely packed neighbouring structures. We managed to keep the flames from spreading in this severely congested locality. The entire staff remained on a high alert, working through the night to ensure the situation was fully contained, leaving them no chance for sleep," Rajinder said.

The incident marks a worrying trend, as the city has seen a major fire almost every night recently. These included a truck that caught fire, tragically resulting in the driver being burnt and another significant blaze in Ghumar Mandi at a leather shop.

Meanwhile, shopkeepers said the shop owner must have suffered losses worth lakhs of rupees due to the fire.