70 homes gutted in massive fire at Market Yard

PUNE: A massive fire gutted 70 homes at Ambedkarnagar slums, at Market Yard, on Saturday morning. Though the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, locals believe it was sparked off by an electrical short circuit. Further fuelling the blaze were the 10 domestic LPG cylinders that exploded in the intense heat before the fire brigade could reach the spot.

Locals played a key role in averting a more disastrous tragedy by evacuating people from their homes and removing other LPG cylinders.A local mosque made use of its public address system to alert people of the fire, while the devout read the azaan continuously, seeking divine help. However, some residents alleged that miscreants took advantage of the situation and stole cash and ornaments from their houses.
The fire started in one of the houses at about 10.20am and spread to neighbouring properties within minutes to completely burn down furniture and household items, worth lakhs of rupees.
“We received a phone call at around 10.25am about the fire and we left for the spot with a single tender and a water tanker. On reaching the corner of the Market Yard, I spotted thick black smoke emanating from the slums. The situation prompted me to summon two more fire tenders from Kondha and Katraj fire sub-stations. On approaching the slum from gate No. 5 of the Market Yard, I clearly understood the magnitude of the blaze and made an emergency call to summon all senior officers and fire tenders,” said fire officer Prakash Gore.
“The fire tenders could not get inside the slum because of its narrow and congested entrance and bylanes. We had to pull out the nozzle pipe and run inside the slum to start the fire-fighting operation. Meanwhile, our colleagues circled the slums from all sides and started spraying water. Even then there were some hurdles, as a large number of people had assembled at the spot. They picked up a fight with us, accusing us of not pressing an adequate number of fire tenders into service. My driver Raju Shelar and I were attacked. One of our jawans Rauf Shaikh collapsed because he was feeling suffocated and his blood pressure had increased. He had to be taken to a hospital,” Gore said.
He added, “We appealed to the public to maintain peace and move to safety, but they created a lot of chaos. We saw many people running sround with their bags. We rescued a two-year-old boy and a 27-year-old disabled man, who were trapped inside their homes.”