New Delhi | A major fire broke out at Nature Bazaar in south Delhi's Andheria Mor area on Sunday morning, gutting around 50 shops and triggering a massive firefighting operation, an official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said.
According to the DFS, a call regarding the blaze was received at 7.37 am, following which 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to control the flames.
No injury to anyone was reported in the incident. The fire erupted at the Nature Bazaar market located near Andheria Mor in the Lado Sarai area, where several temporary and semi-permanent shops selling handicrafts and other items are set up, the DFS official said.
Thick plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the market complex as the fire rapidly spread through multiple shops in the crowded marketplace. Firefighters launched an extensive operation to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading further.
Around 50 shops were gutted in the incident, causing heavy damage to goods and structures, the officer said.
Fire personnel completely doused the flames and carried out cooling operations in the area. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Police officers also reached the spot to assist in crowd management and facilitate firefighting operations.
A PCR call was received at 7.33 am about a fire near Ambdekar Colony in Chhatarpur. On receiving the PCR call, maximum staff were immediately dispatched to the spot.
"On reaching the spot, it was found that the fire was raging at the Nature Bazaar, Delhi Haat, at Chhatarpur. No one was found trapped in the fire, however, the fire itself was found to be rapidly spreading. The fire was huge and five fire tenders were pressed into service initially. It took almost one-and-a-half hours to control the fire," a police officer said.
The probable cause of the fire as per the night guards was a short circuit. No human casualties have been reported and only exhibition goods like carpets, home decorative items have gutted in the fire, the officer added.
As the fire spread rapidly due to the highly inflammable items stored inside the shops, the blaze escalated quickly, the fire department officials said.
Officials said the inventory at the market included carpets, shawls, sarees and various handloom materials, which intensified the blaze.
At around 8 am, additional firefighting resources were deployed. The total number of deployed units rose to 10 fire tenders along with a water tender, a water bowser and two multi-purpose firefighting vehicles.
The fire officer said the firefighters battled the blaze for more than three hours before bringing it completely under control.
Eyewitnesses said the fire had actually started earlier in the morning before the official call was made to the fire department. Mohammad Abid, an eyewitness, said many shopkeepers were unaware of the incident and later rushed to the market to check the condition of their shops.
"Safety is very important here. Several houses are located close to the market, so it was important to ensure that the flames did not spread to the residential area," Abid said.
He added that the fire appeared to have started around 6.30 am. According to him, residents and locals made announcements from a nearby mosque, asking people to come out of their houses and help in controlling the situation. They were also asked to move LPG cylinders to safer places to avoid any further risk.
Another eyewitness, Mohammad Javed, said the damage could have been far worse if the weather conditions had been different. "It could have been a very big fire, but because of light rain in the morning hours, the situation remained somewhat under control," he said.
Javed also claimed that several fire extinguishers available in the market had expired and there was no proper water facility in the area. "If water were available nearby, locals could have tried to control the fire before the fire teams arrived," he said.
"In the early hours of this morning, a devastating fire at the Dastkar Nature Bazaar gutted 37 stalls in the permanent Gali e Khas and five stalls in the ongoing Bonanza Bazaar, totally destroying their goods, infrastructure and equipment," the market officials said in a statement.
Officials said the exact cause of the fire will be determined only after a detailed investigation. They added that the extent of financial loss will be assessed by the shop owners themselves, as most of the destroyed structures belonged to individual vendors operating in the market complex.
