Massive fire engulfs Khanna hardware store

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Khanna: A massive fire broke out in a hardware goods and plywood godown on Samrala Road here on Monday evening. Fire officials said 12 to 14 tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames.

The blaze that engulfed the godown on the top floor of the three-storey building did not spread to other floors.

Fire officer Yashpal Rai said as the inferno was big, they had to employ more than a dozen fire tenders, including three from Khanna, two from Samrala, two from Mandi Gobindgarh, two from Ludhiana, one each from Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Ropar and Nawanshahr. He added that the godown and an adjoining showroom on the same floor were owned by Hukum Chand and Sons and contained hardware stuff, paints, furniture.

“Around 50 officials of our department are working to control the fire that started around 5.30pm. We faced problems as the fire started on the third floor of the building, which is connected to the main road through a narrow road. And the other entrance is also through the main road. We managed to get water pipes through the narrow street and hopefully we will be able to control the flames soon. Fire has not reached the adjoining electronic goods showroom owned by the godown owner,” he said.

Showroom owner Hukum Chand said the cause was a short circuit. “Around 5.30pm, my workers saw flames in the godown and till the time they went with extinguishers, the blaze had spread. I got a call from my worker Gurpreet Singh. I was in the other showroom at the time and rushed to the spot. Now that fire tenders have arrived, we are hopeful that the blaze will be controlled soon. We have suffered huge losses, which will be assessed in the morning,” he said.

He added that had the blaze started at night, it would have caused large-scale devastation.

Fire officials said luckily no one suffered any injuries and apparently the fire was caused by a short circuit, but things would become clear after proper investigation.

As thick smoke billowed from the store, a large number of people gathered at the spot. Police had to ask them to clear the road for the fire tenders. Traffic was also diverted on the Khanna-Samrala Road. Dark layers of smoke were seen towards Malerkotla road.

The firefighters were on the job till the filing of the report.