Massive fire erupts in Kolkata retail market, 15 fire-tenders at spot

Kolkata, Oct 23 (IANS) A major fire broke at the busy marketplace of Ezra Street in central Kolkata on Wednesday night.

As per the information, as many as 15 fire-tenders have rushed to the spot and are trying to extinguish as well as prevent the fire from spreading further.

A local shop owner said that the source of the fire was a warehouse which was full of wooden packing boxes. Gradually the fire spread to some other shops located in the congested marketplace in the heart of Kolkata.

Local claims that the wind blowing because of the pre-impact of the forthcoming landfall of Cyclone Dana aided the fire to spread quickly from the warehouse to the other shops.

The reason for the fire is yet to be known, though the officials of the fire services department claimed that a short circuit could have been the reason for the fire.

Initially, two fire tenders rushed to the spot. However, as the fire started spreading further, more fire-tenders reached the spot with the number increasing to 15 at the time the report was filed.

“Our prime concern now is to stop the spread of fire to the adjacent shops. The congested area of Ezra Street is becoming a hurdle for getting the fire under control,” said a fire services department official present at the spot.

The local shop owners, however, complained that had the fire tenders reached the spot of fire in time, the fire could not have spread so much.

The state Fire Services Minister Sujit Basu also rushed to the spot and supervised the entire fire-fighting process.