Massive fire breaks out in Delhi’s Jhandewalan; four-floor building gutted, cars damaged

According to police, the fire broke out in the Anarkali Building. “Some vehicles parked nearby also caught fire. Fire-fighting is on…,” said DCP (Central) Harsha Vardhan.

The building housed an ICICI bank branch and a Domino’s pizza outlet, apart from offices of several other businesses.

The first call to the fire department was made at 2.27 pm.

Deputy Fire Chief S K Dua said preliminary investigations suggested that the blaze originated from an AC compressor in the building. “The wind worsened the situation, causing the fire to spread quickly… After the initial response, we categorised the fire as a medium-level one and rushed 25 trucks to the area,” said Dua, while talking to the media outside the building.

According to an employee who worked on the fourth floor of the building, the fire started from an office on the same floor. “Once we saw thick smoke billowing out, we began evacuating,” said the employee, who did not wish to be named.

As per eyewitnesses, the fire quickly spread to the lower floors. Soon, the facade of the building was ablaze, and burning chunks fell onto cars and motorbikes parked next to the building, causing them to catch fire as well.

I K Ajay, an employee of IndusInd Bank one building away, was informed at 2.15 pm that the building next door was on fire. “I always park my car below the building… someone from the ICICI bank on the building’s ground floor called me about it,” he said.

However, Ajay didn’t pay much heed to it, believing the fire to be a small one. “When they started evacuating our office, I realised that it was a bigger fire than I thought and rushed to see if my Baleno could be saved. The car parked next to mine was on fire but when I went to get my car out, my colleagues told me to stay away and save myself,” he said.

As he watched the vehicle slowly burn into a hollow metal shell, Ajay suddenly spotted people still inside the Domino’s outlet as the fire raged in the ICICI bank office right next to the restaurant. “The employees were trying to gather as much inventory as they could get out of the building. I had to rush inside and shout at them to leave the things behind and save themselves,” he said.

Shivam, an employee of the bank, said there was tremendous loss. “… we had clients’ gold and cash stored inside the branch. I’m not sure whether we’ll be able to recover them. When the cars in front of the building began burning, that’s when we panicked and made our way out.”

The fire also spread to the wares of some roadside sellers who sat on the footpath in front of the parked cars. Hirki, who sold stuffed toys and inflatable pools, watched in dismay as her husband palmed through the burnt rubble. “We don’t just sell things here, we live here too. My entire life has been burnt down,” she said.

Her aunt, Kelam, also stood by as her nephew rummaged through the rubble collecting steel boxes and melted plastic jars filled with rice, sugar and pulses. “I’m trying to find a polythene bag I had… I had Rs 15,000 in it,” she said.

“We saw smoke coming out from the building but didn’t pay much attention… we ran away when the glass panes shattered and fell on us. When we came back, nothing was left,” said Hirki.

This is the second incident of fire in Delhi in a day. At 7.35 am, the Delhi Fire Services received a call about a blaze in a slum cluster in New Seelampur and rushed seven fire tenders to the area. DFS officials said the fire in two shanties was doused, and there were no reports of any injuries or casualties.

On Monday, two siblings were killed in a fire that broke out due to an LPG cylinder leak at their house in West Delhi Sunday night.