A total of 12 furniture shops and a tea shop and goods worth crores were gutted in the massive fire that broke out in Sector 53 furniture market on Wednesday.
A total of nine fire tenders – seven from Chandigarh and two from Mohali – rushed to douse the blaze. The rescue work was going on till the writing of this news.
Ankush Garg, owner of a burnt shop, said, “The fire broke out around 4.30 pm. Due to the sudden fire, many shopkeepers were standing outside their respective shops. It took hardly five minutes to engulf the shops in a queue. We suspect that furniture worth crores of rupees was burnt in the fire incident. no one was hurt.”
The fire department has started an investigation with the local police to find out the cause of the fire.
A fire brigade official said, “While the exact cause of the fire is not yet known, a short circuit cannot be ruled out. One of the reasons for the rapid spread of the fire was paint, varnish, thinner, There may be presence of flammable material in the shape of dry wood, foam, mattress etc. The fire has been brought under control to a large extent but we have not called back the rescue operation is still pending as some is being emitted. It has been decided to put two fire tenders in the furniture market for 48 hours.
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“Furniture market has become prone to fire incidents and it is reported every other year. There are at least 118 furniture stores in the market, making it one of the largest furniture markets in the region. We appealed to the local administration to provide us the necessary assistance”, said Sanjeev Kumar, the official carrier of the Furniture Market Welfare Association.
Chandigarh BJP Chairman Arun Sood, Mayor Sarabjit Kaur and Municipal Corporation Joint Commissioner cum Chief Fire Officer Rohit Gupta reached the spot. He assured all possible help to the shopkeepers.
In December 2018, 26 shops were burnt in a market fire incident.