Firefighters battled for nearly three hours early on Saturday to put out a fire that razed a fast-food joint and damaged several shops in a building at Toll Junction, near Ambalamukku here.

No casualties were reported, although the fire had quickly spread from ‘Crescent Fast Food’ to the adjacent shops, the Fire and Rescue Services said.

The fire could have been caused by two gas cylinders exploding inside the fast food shop, it is suspected. The building, owned by Prasanna Kumar, ‘Pranavam’, Mannamoola, also housed a photostat shop, a bakery, and a television repair shop, all of which have sustained heavy losses.

The incident occurred around 5.30 a.m. The Fire and Rescue Services received an alert by 5.45 a.m. Four fire tenders from the Chenkalchoola unit and one from the Chakka unit were rushed to the scene.

Timely intervention prevented the conflagration from spreading further in the populated area.