A tragedy was averted when fire engulfed the first floor of the municipal shopping complex on the bus stand premises in Kothamangalam on Wednesday morning as the building was deserted.
The Kothamangalam fire force was alerted about the fire breakout at around 6.20 a.m. Short circuit seems to have caused the fire in the very old building while the inflammable items stockpiled by store owners led to its escalation.
The building was deserted at the time of the fire and there was none on the ground floor either where commuters usually wait for buses during peak hours. Two units from the fire station doused the fire in less than an hour as firefighters successfully managed to check the spread of fire to other floors.
Later in the day, the building was sealed off and an inquiry into the incident will follow.
A team led by Station Officer T.P. Karunakara Pillai and Assistant Station Officer Saji Mathew led the operation.
