Millions lost: Dozens of shops gutted in Lahore blaze

Witness believes fire was ignited by a short-circuit

LAHORE: Valuables worth millions of rupees were destroyed in a fire that lasted for over eight hours at a plaza on Ganpat Road in Anarkali.

The affected plaza was occupied by shops carrying decoration material and paper warehouses. It was a three-storey building in which dozens of shops were affected.

The fire broke out at around 2am on Saturday morning, according to Rescue 1122. The fire station of the service is a stone’s throw away from the site. A fire tender responded to the call and tried to control the blazing inferno. However, the blaze spread and more teams of Rescue 1122 as well as the fire brigade were dispatched. About 25 vehicles reached the scene.

Quoting an eyewitness, a shopkeeper said the fire broke out when the electricity had returned after hours of load-shedding. The electric wires short-circuited and it is believed that the flames travelled to a shop nearby.

Plumes of smoke billowed from the burning shops and the sirens of ambulances and fire vehicles filled the air. Residents of the area rushed to the site and called the shops owners who also reached the spot, only to see their livelihoods go up in smoke.  It took over eight hours for rescue teams to control the blaze.

Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and asked authorities to submit a report. CCPO Amin Wains, Deputy Commissioner Sameer Ahmad and others visited the scene.

Speaking on the occasion, the CCPO said police will investigate the matter from all angles and take action as per the law.

The DC, meanwhile, stated rescue teams responded in a timely manner and handled the situation professionally. SP City Adil Memon also visited the site and deployed a heavy contingent of police to keep matters in check.

In another incident of fire, valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rupees were gutted in an incident of fire at a LESCO office in Mughalpura. Rescue teams reached the spot and controlled the blaze. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Earlier this year, at least seven people were killed when a fire broke out in the labour quarters of a private construction company which was working on the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT). The blaze occurred in the Mahmood Booti area of Lahore.

The fire erupted in labour quarters behind the pre-casting yard of the Habib Construction Services (HCS), which is a civil contractor for OLMT package-1 (from Chaburji to Dera Gujjran). Residents of the area said flames started to erupt on the upper floor of the building, which was being used as barracks for construction workers. “The whole floor was engulfed in flames in a couple of minutes and it trapped dozens of workers inside. At least two people died from jumped off the building,” a resident told The Express Tribune.

The flames engulfed clothes and quilts on the floor and spread in minutes.

The building had fire extinguishers and other fire-fighting equipment, but the fire did not give time to respond,” said OLMT steering committee chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2017.