Three shops gutted in Malir blaze

A fire erupted in Liaquat Market in Malir on Friday, gutting three shops while goods worth hundreds of thousands of rupees burned to ashes as three fire tenders, dispatched for the rescue operation, reportedly, reached an hour and a half late. According to area residents, they called the fire department and even visited the fire station to seek help soon after the fire broke out but the rescue operation was delayed due to the non-availability of rescue vehicles, which had been sought by the Landhi fire station. They claimed the fire tenders reached the site of the incident an hour and a half late and meanwhile, area residents doused the blaze on their own. So, they added, upon reaching the site, fire-fighters sprayed water at the shop for a while and left. However, a fire department spokesperson maintained the fire tenders reached on time and managed to contain the blaze within half an hour, but by then, a tailor shop, a grocery shop and a dairy shop were completely burnt.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2020.