Fire on balcony of 7th floor flat panics fire department

Surat: A small fire on the seventh floor of a balcony in an empty apartment block created major panic for the fire department on Thursday evening. On tenterhooks after the Takshashila arcade fire of May 24, fire officers and vehicles form three fire stations rushed to the spot, located near Ambikaniketan and behind Surat municipal commissioner’s bungalow in Parle Point area of the city. However, they found out that a short circuit caused a small fire that burnt a mattress and pillow kept in the balcony of the seventh floor flat of Saraswati Smruti building.
According to fire officials, they received a call of fire at around 7.23 pm and when the officers reached the locked flat on the seventh floor, they saw that it was a small fire that burnt just two small items and doused it in five minutes. However, they checked all other things to ensure that it was safe.
Haribhau Boreste, fire officer from Majura who reached the spot first, said, “The whole 10-floor building had been vacated a month ago and it was totally empty. Fire started due to short circuit and we informed the utilities to shut power supply to the empty building.”
Electricity supply to the whole Ambikaniketan and Parle Point area was cut off for half an hour as a precautionary measure.