Eight garages gutted in major fire

Nagpur: In a major fire in the wee hours of Thursday, eight garages of four-wheelers, one lawyer's office, a paan kiosk and part of a house, 4 four-wheelers besides other mechanical tools and materials worth Rs 1.5 crore were reduced to ash in Kachipura, Ramdaspeth.
The incident took place at around 1:30am when the entire area wore a deserted look. It took more than an hour for six firefighting tenders and fire personnel from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)’s fire and emergency services to douse the flames.
“The reason behind the fire is not known yet,” said chief fire officer (CFO) Rajendra Uchake and added that fortunately no person was injured in the mishap.
“Petrol and chemicals, besides other parts of vehicles, and vehicles added fuel to the fire which rose to an alarming size,” said the CFO.
According to Kachipura residents, NMC’s fire department responded almost an hour late. The fire started at around 1.30am. However, the fire department claimed that they received the call at around 2.28am.
“Had they acted swiftly, fire personnel could have saved at least four automobile workshops and my office,” said lawyer Jitendra Rathore.