Fire breaks out in Kolkata building; firemen rescue 50 residents

KOLKATA: Firemen rescued nearly 50 persons stranded on the terrace or inside homes after a fire broke out at a mixed residential building at Mangoe Lane in central Kolkata on Sunday evening.
The first sight of the flames were seen around 8.25pm at the meter box near the ground floor staircase of the old building and within no time it started climbing upstairs trapping the residents inside the building.
With the fire engulfing the staircase and smoke filling up the upper floors, residents couldn’t come out of the building and the majority of them started running upstairs.

“I was alerted by our neighbour about the fire and as we tried to go down, we found the entire staircase was burning. We had no way out and I ran upstairs grabbing my 11 month old baby in my arms,” said Nitu Verma, a fifth floor resident.
Ananta Gupta (48) and his wife Ritu who live on the fourth floor also made an attempt to dodge the fire and escape the building but finally had to run to the terrace and call for help. “It was scary. The scariest one hour I ever spent in my life,” said Gupta.
Four fire tenders were quick to respond and the firemen charged water at the fire from the ground floor to bring the flames under control within an hour. However, the fumes prevented them from climbing up immediately but the firemen braved the same and ran upstairs to the terrace and others began knocking at every home to ensure none were trapped inside.
During the check, an elderly lady in her 70s was found inside her home, whom firemen brought out in a stretcher. TOI tried to speak to her but she was too traumatized to speak out as firemen took her away for medical attention.
“The fire seems to have started from the electrical meter box on the ground floor before spreading upwards. However, it was quickly contained and thankfully, we could evacuate and rescue all residents unharmed. There were no injuries be it on part of the residents or firemen,” said a fire official.