Massive fire damages six houses, shopping complex in Hazratbal

Srinagar : A massive fire damaged six residential houses and a shopping complex’s second floor in the Hazratbal area on Tuesday. Around 30 shops have been damaged.
The fire emerged from a restaurant on the second floor of the building, officials said.
A top official from the Fire & Emergency Department said that upon receiving information of the fire incident around 11:58 am, the fire tenders from the nearest fire station were dispatched.
“Preliminary reports suggest that the fire had emerged from a restaurant located inside the shopping complex’s second floor, due to which some LPG cylinders inside the restaurant blasted and caused the spread of the fire in the area,” he said.
“As we witnessed the spread of fire to nearby residential areas, we called up more fire tenders from other fire stations of Srinagar,” the official said. “As the fire spread to a nearby residential area attic; the ceiling and flooring of six residential houses got damaged. However, barring the ground and first floor of the shopping complex, the second floor got damaged.”
While speaking to the media persons, one of the locals whose house was damaged questioned the Waqf authorities on how the property was given out to restaurant owners.
“The fire has destroyed our lifetime savings,” the house owner said.
The property is not meant for fast food restaurants, neither has Waqf made it for that purpose. I don’t understand how they got the lease, he questioned.
Meanwhile, a senior police official said that upon receiving the fire incident report, they started evacuating people from the shopping complex. With the spread of fire to nearby residential houses, we also evacuated students and family members living inside, he said.
He said more than 150 police personnel were involved in the evacuation process and in making a smooth passage for fire tenders to douse off the flames. There was no injury to any civilian, he said.
The police official said the cause of the fire is being ascertained and the investigation into the incident is underway.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director, Fire & Emergency Department Kashmir, Bashir Ahmad said that it took them more than three-and-a-half hours to contain the fire.
“First it took us two hours to contain the dousing flames and more than one-and-a-half hours to cool off the entire fire,” he said.
The Deputy Director F&E Department said that upon receiving the initial report of the fire incident, the nearest fire station dispatched their two fire tenders, but upon witnessing the intensity of the fire, more reinforcements were sought.
“In total, 16 fire tenders from the maximum of all fire stations of Srinagar, including from the headquarters, were called in for the operation. In addition, portable fire pumps were also pressed in during the fire extinguishing operation,” he said.
Urging people to make way for the fire tenders, he said whenever a siren is heard; the motorists should make way for fire tenders