BENGALURU: A major fire broke out at a four-story commercial building near Banaswadi in the early hours of Monday. The building, located in Vijaya Bank Colony near Banaswadi on Outer Ring Road, houses a furniture shop, a coaching center, and a software and design company. The building was completely gutted in the incident. No casualties were reported.
Four fire tenders — two from Banasawadi, and one each from Hebbal and High Grounds fire stations — were pressed into service. Two security guards, who were at the building, were rescued by the fire department. A short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire. The damage is estimated to be over Rs 8 crore.
Alok Kumar, 25, one of the two security guards who was rescued, told The New Indian Express, “I was sleeping on the terrace of the building when the fire broke out around 2 am. In no time, the fire spread to the entire building. There was no way to escape and the fire personnel came immediately and rescued me.” Kumar from Odisha has been working as a security guard at the furniture shop on the ground and first floors for over five years.
“We did Diwali pooja at the shop and closed it by 8 pm. We generally park all the vehicles in the basement, but because of the festival, only two bicycles belonging to me and the other security guard were parked. Both the bicycles were gutted in the fire” he added.
Deepa, an eyewitness, said, “I live close to the building. When I was on my terrace, I could smell smoke, and I initially thought it was because of firecrackers. But within a few minutes, I saw flames and called the fire department. Soon, the entire building was engulfed in flames and aluminum scraps and debris landed on my house terrace.” The Ramamurthy Nagar police said the incident could be due to a short circuit.