Blaze guts 20 shops in electronic market near Malir Tanki

Non-avaialbility of functional fire tenders at Malir fire station delays rescue operation

KARACHI: As many as 20 shops were gutted as a massive fire erupted in an electronics markets near Malir Tanki on Tuesday morning. The rescue operation, however, was delayed due to the non-availability of functional fire tenders.

According to the market's president, Muhammad Ahtisham, the fire erupted at around 7.45am and could have easily been contained had the fire department taken prompt action.

The fire was reported at Malir fire station at 7.56am, according to fire department officials. However, immediate help couldn't be sent as all fire tenders at the station were out of order. By the time a fire tender from Landhi fire station reached the site, after a delay of about an hour and a half, the blaze had spread to engulf quite a few shops in the market. Amid futile efforts of containing the blaze, the lone fire tender too ran out of water and further assistance was sought. Following this, five fire tenders from different fire stations across the city reached the inflamed market, to witness its largest shop being swallowed by roaring flames.

Meanwhile, an emergency was imposed at all water hydrants in Karachi, on the directives of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director Asadullah Khan, and multiple tankers, carrying hundreds of gallons of water, were dispatched from hydrants in Safoora Goth and Landhi to douse the flames.

Eventually, the fire was doused after two hours of efforts, at 10.03 am, according to fire department officials. They further said that besides six fire tenders of the fire department, eight of KWSB's bowsers were used in the rescue operation and no casualty was reported in the incident.

According to shop owners, the fire erupted due to short-circuit in one of the poles located nearby the market, as a consequence of rain in the morning.

Lamenting the loss caused by the fire, they held the government responsible for their distress and appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take notice of the incident and identify those whose negligence caused a delay in the rescue operation, resulting in their loss. They have also demanded of the provincial and the federal government to compensate for their financial loss so that they may set up their businesses again.

"We have been paying taxes but no government has approached us yet to offer compensation for our loss," said one of the affected shop owners, who asked not to be named.

The shop owners further complained that there were six big markets in Malir but just one fire station to deal with any untoward incident, and that too was found to be non-functional.

As a consequence of the fire, the market remained closed on Tuesday.

Later, Model Colony Assistant Commissioner Captain (retd) Attaur Rehman visited the burned down market and confirmed that fire department staff reached the spot after a delay of 30 minutes to 40 minutes and 20 shops were destroyed in the incident, while speaking to media persons. He assured the shop owners that they would be compensated for their loss and the matter of the first fire tender that reached the site running out of water would be investigated. "Legal action will then be taken against delinquent officials," he said.

Rehman said that records of goods kept inside the gutted shops was sought to get an estimate of the total loss.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2020.