Ludhiana: One house collapses, two damaged in fire

LUDHIANA: Eight people including four firemen had a close shave during a fire and collapse incident in a house in Mayapuri area at Tibba Road here on Thursday. The four family members were taken out of the house through stairs of house at the backside when smoke started coming out, while four fire brigade personnel were outside the house trying to control the fire when a sudden blast happened inside the house.

The intensity of the blast was such that the firemen were pushed back and one of them was hit against a wall opposite to the house. Two adjoining houses were also damaged partially.

Sareef Ahmed was living in the house on rent along with his family. He was not at home at the time of incident. His eldest daughter Tarannum and her two-year-old daughter Sabia and two other daughters Tabasum and Marjeena were at the first floor of the house when they suddenly noticed smoke coming from the ground floor.

Tabasum said, “We were busy in household chores and suddenly we saw smoke coming from the ground floor where hosiery waste was stored as my father deals into that business.” She said they started screaming for help and with the help of their neighbours who reside at the backside they reached safely at their terrace. She informed her father as well as the owner of the house and somebody from the area called up the fire brigade.

The fire officials claimed that they received a call at around 10.48 am that a fire had broken out in a house in Mayapuri area and fire tenders were rushed from Sunder Nagar fire station. Since there was fire at the entrance of the building they tried controlling it from outside.

Fireman Pawan Kumar said, “We were all working and trying to control the fire as there was intense fire in the house. Our driver Jaswinder Singh came running and alerted us after he noticed that the building was about to collapse. Then there was a sudden blast inside and the building collapsed like a pack of cards.”

Meanwhile, assistant divisional fire officer Bhupinder Sandhu also reached the spot. He claimed that it was a great escape for the four firemen who were working at that time. He said building structure was weak and it collapsed in 10 minutes. He informed that two adjoining houses also got damaged.

Sub-fire officer Atish Rai said, “There was blast in the LPG cylinder at the ground floor due to which the building collapsed in no time. Fortunately firemen were working from outside and they were safe.”

The fire was brought under control by four fire tenders in nearly three hours.