Owners away, fire breaks out in a 5th-floor flat of Noida Extension condo

NOIDA: Fire broke out in a fifth-floor apartment at Gaur City’s 5th Avenue in Noida Extension on Sunday. A video of the incident that surfaced online showed flames and black smoke spewing from the windows of the flat.
Fire officials told TOI that the fire started around 10 am when the owner of the flat, Pradeep Kumar Kambej, and his family were out for some work. Neighbours alerted the security and maintenance staff of the condominium and together they doused the fire using extinguishers before the firemen reached the spot.
“Firemen had reached the premises within 10 minutes with a fire engine but the blaze had already been controlled by the apartment’s maintenance and security staff,” GB Nagar’s chief fire officer Pradeep Pal said. Furniture, books and clothes in the study room of the apartment were gutted in the fire but no casualty was reported, he added. “We are yet to ascertain how the fire broke out but it seems the blaze was sparked by a short circuit,” Pal said.