JOIN USA major tragedy was averted with the Fire personnel rescuing a family when their residence in a two-storey building caught fire on CMH Road in Indiranagar Friday evening.
Furniture, electrical equipment and household articles were gutted before the 16 fire tenders could control the blaze in half an hour. The Reliance Fresh outlet is housed on the first floor, while a family resides on the second floor.
The outlet was closed on Friday and Mahaveer Chand, his wife Jamuna, their sons Pradeep and Kiran, daughters-in-law Kesar and Kusum and grandchildren – three-and-half-year-old Dhavan, two-and-half-year-old Dishan and 8-month-old Palak – were inside the house.
A large quantity of furniture was stored on the floor with the intention of opening a furniture shop, said police.
“I was passing by the lane and noticed thick smoke and flames on the second floor (around 3 pm). I alerted the police and the Fire department soon. A large crowd gathered near the spot and tried to rescue the family members,” Devaraj, an eyewitness told Deccan Herald.
As the smoke spread, all the family members went to the terrace and took shelter near a water tank. Pradeep and Kiran called up the police.
“We received the fire alert at 3.15 pm and were told that four members of the family were struck on the second floor. We deployed 95 firemen to the spot and managed to reach the second floor. The members of the family were atop the building by then,” said Hampagol, Technical Director, Fire and Emergency Services. The firemen shifted the family members to a safer place and took them to a nearby hospital as they had sustained minor bruises, he added.
“Though certain things are not mandatory for a low-rise building, a commercial establishment of that stature should have had fire safety measures,” Hampagol stated. Fire department personnel suspected that an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner might have triggered the fire.