North Delhi building collapses after blaze

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Three firemen suffered minor injuries and at least 50 firefighters had a narrow escape when a four-storeyed building belonging to a private transport company on Roshanara Road near north Delhi’s Pul Bangash Metro station came crashing down within four hoursof a fire breaking out within the building on Wednesday.

Firefighters had a narrow escape when the structure came crashing down. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)
Firefighters had a narrow escape when the structure came crashing down. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Firefighting and cooling operations were on until the time of going to press. A few videos of the building collapse and the fire were circulated on social media.

The fire control room received a call at 11.50am regarding a fire in Jaipur Golden Transport company’s building. fire department officials said. “We immediately rushed 18 fire tenders to the spot. The fire broke out in the basement and spread to the ground floor. As it spread further, we worried that it may engulf the entire building and nearby houses (in the congested neighbourhood), and so we sent nine more tenders,” Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said.

“Prima facie, it appears that the fire originated due to a short-circuit in the basement. A spot inspection will clear the exact cause and place,” added Garg.

At least 50 firefighters were standing just a few feet away from the building, and spraying water in its basement and on the ground floor to douse the flamesaround 3.30pm,when the building collapsed, officials said, adding that property worth lakhs of rupees was destroyed in the incident. Except three firemen, who were hit by debris while they ran as the building collapsed, nobody else was hurt, authorities said.

“As the building started to collapse, we all yelled and quickly moved several steps back in the nick of time. A delay of 5 seconds on our part could have led to a major tragedy as we would have got trapped,” said DFS’s divisional officer (central) Rajender Atwal, who was leading the operation. He added that three firemen suffered minor injuries in hands and legs.

“Station officer Prem Lal and firemen Sanjeet and Shastri were admitted to Bara Hindu Rao hospital, from where they were discharged after medical attention,” added Atwal.

A total of 150 firemen and 27 fire tenders caried out the firefighting operation. The fire was contained by 6pm but at least 10 fire tenders and 30 firemen were stationed at the incident spot till late night to douse the blaze completely and carry out the cooling operation, said Atwal.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said that an investigation will be carried out to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and the reason behind the collapse of the building. “The building was old. It belonged to Jaipur Golden Transport company. A traffic inspector had spotted the fire and informed the police control room at 12.02 pm. All precautionary measures were taken to ensure people living in houses behind the building were safe.” he added.

Scores of locals gathered around the affected building, and many stood on roofs of the nearby houses to watch the firefighting operation. Others assisted the firefighters in their operation.

Speaking to mediapersons, Gurnek Singh, who owns a transport agency in the neighbourhood, said, “My agency’s vehicles are usually parked outside the building. As the fire broke out, I and some drivers rushed there with water supply and fire extinguishers from our office and vehicles and tried to douse the flames. Clothes that were stocked inside the warehouse were all destroyed.”

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