Two fires broke out in T Nagar and Pudupet on Monday. In the first incident, property worth several lakhs was gutted in a major blaze at a five-storey commercial complex in T Nagar on Monday afternoon.
The distress call was received around 12.50 pm in Thirumalai Pillai Road near G N Chetty Road. The building houses a leading textile showroom and another private firm operates in other four floors.
The fire that broke out in the first floor spread to the second and third floors. About 60 employees of the building were trapped inside the building. Fire tenders from Teynampet, Mylapore, and Egmore were pressed into service. Two sky lifts were used to rescue the employees. Besides two metro lorries were asked to chip in and the fire was doused in two hours.
The fire was reportedly sparked off by an electrical short circuit. The actual loss is yet to be ascertained but police said that the property loss could run into several lakhs. “There was a petrol pump in the vicinity. We did our best to douse the fire and prevented it from spreading. Had that not been done properly, the damage to life and property would have been worse,” a fire fighter said.
In another fire reported in Pudupet, oil from a power transformer spilled into two shops selling auto spares and both the shops were gutted. Fire tenders were pressed into the service and the fire was controlled.
In both the incidents, cases were registered and further investigations are on.
