A major fire broke at the furniture market alongside the road separating Sector 53 and 54 in Chandigarh. Furniture and foam material worth over crore is reported to have been destroyed in the fire. The Fire Department had received a call about the fire at 11:14 pm on Monday night.
Around twelve fire engines were pressed into service. The presence of highly inflammable material like varnish, foam, thinner, plywood, etc aggravated the fire and hampered fire control measures.
After an initial struggle of about 2 hours, the fire was partially brought under control.
Suresh, an employee of a shop, said he saw huge flames rising from a shop. Soon, the fire spread to other shops in the lane.Traders who own shops reached the market and ran helter-skelter to save their material. Nothing much could be saved as the fire flaggerated within minutes.
An official of the Fire Department said they were yet to ascertain the cause of the fire. Around 20 shops were gutted. However, no loss of life was reported.
Nine fire incidents have been reported from the market in the past 10 years. Owners of shops and their family members alleged that despite the fire incidents, the MC was doing nothing to prevent these.
