Fire in Gwalior building triggers cylinder blast; 2 firefighters injured

Gwalior: Two firefighters were injured after a fire broke out in a four-storey in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior city in the wee hours of Thursday and triggered a gas cylinder blast, an official said.

A thread-manufacturing factory is located on the ground floor of the building where the fire is believed to have erupted at around 2 am, Superintendent of Police Manish Yadav told PTI.

The building is located in the densely populated Chawri Bazar.

Fire tenders of the Gwalior Municipal Corporation and the Air Force Station in Maharajpura were pressed into service, the official said.

Two fire brigade personnel -- Parshottam and Yogesh -- were injured in a cylinder blast before the blaze was put out. They have been admitted to a hospital, he said.

"As the building is situated in an alley, it was difficult for fire tenders to access the site. All (seven) flats in the building were evacuated, and maximum LPG cylinders were removed," he said.

"The building in the Lashkar area caught fire around 2 am. Help from the Air Force Station in Maharajpura was sought," Gwalior civic commissioner Sangh Priya told PTI.

Nearly 22 fire tenders were used to douse the flames and the blaze was brought under control by around 6 am, he said

"Before the fire was completely doused at 10 am, an LPG cylinder which could not be removed from the building exploded, injuring two fire brigade personnel," the official said.

A probe is on into the cause of the fire and to ascertain whether the factory was operating legally in the residential building, Yadav said.