Massive fire breaks out at Bamboo Bazaar in Bengaluru's Shivajinagar

A major fire gutted at least 15 shops in the city’s furniture hub early on Thursday morning, police said.

The fire broke out in a shop in Bamboo Bazaar, Shivajinagar, around 2.30 am before spreading to adjacent stores in no time. Firefighters battled for nearly 16 hours to fully douse the fire.

It was local residents who called the fire brigade after being awakened by heavy flames and thick clouds of smoke. The force originally dispatched four fire tenders to put up the flames but had to deploy another 16 firefighting vehicles as the inferno went out of control. The fire was put up only by 6.30 pm.

A senior police officer said there was no casualty as nobody was inside the shops. Labourers working in the shops had gone home because of the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, the officer added.

Bamboo Bazaar, located in the heart of Bengaluru, is a hub of furniture manufacturers. Police and the fire brigade suspect the inferno was caused by a short circuit although the exact cause of the fire will be known only after a detailed investigation.

Senior police officers, including city top cop Bhaskar Rao, visited the spot and supervised the firefighting operations. The jurisdictional Bharathinagar police said no shop owner had yet come forward to file a complaint.