PURI: At least 350 people were evacuated to safety after a massive fire broke out in a market complex on Grand Road here on Wednesday night. Of them, three persons sustained minor injuries while a fire services personnel suffered burns in the mishap.
The blaze was yet to be brought under control till Thursday evening despite over 20 hours of relentless struggle by multiple fire fighting teams. At least 12 fire fighting units have been engaged to douse the fire.
The multi-storey market complex has 42 commercial outlets. While the complex houses a bank on the ground floor, a hotel operates from the first and second floors. The building is located near Marichikot square, around 300 yards from the Sri Jagannath temple.
Sources said locals spotted heavy smoke emanating from the ground floor of the building at around 8 pm on Wednesday. On being informed, fire services personnel of Badadanda rushed to the spot and tried to douse the blaze. Simultaneously, evacuation of the occupants of the building was started.
Around 350 guests staying in the hotel were evacuated. Three of them including a differently-abled person sustained minor injuries during the evacuation process. They were rushed to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) and their condition is stable.
Since most of the shops in the building were closed for Holi, the fire services personnel could not use water canons to douse the blaze. Besides, thick smoke engulfed the building’s narrow entrance making it difficult for the fire fighters to enter the building which reportedly has no emergency exit.
As the situation turned worse, eight firefighting teams from Satyabadi, Nimapara, Gop and nearby areas were pressed into service. Besides, four firefighting teams along with an ODRAF squad from Bhubaneswar were engaged to control the blaze. Director General, Fire Services Santosh Upadhyay, Minister of State, Home Tusarkanti Behera, RDC AK Samal also visited the site.
Sources said despite using oxygen masks and other protective gears, the firefighters could not cut the locked metal shutters of the closed shops which were burning from inside. More than a dozen of fire fighters fell ill because of suffocation while one sustained burn injury on his hands.According to fire services personnel, the heat was so intense that it melted the iron shutters of shops and the entire building became a cauldron with chunks of roof caving in.
To prevent the fire from spreading, the firemen have flooded adjacent buildings with water canons. Till reports last came in, fire fighters were working hard to extinguish the blaze completely.Meanwhile, the incident has brought to fore the blatant violation of norms pertaining to the use of commercial buildings. Locals alleged that the Puri Konark Development Authority (PKDA) has approved many building plans without fulfilling the mandatory fire safety and parking norms.