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A major fire erupted on the rooftop of a multi-storey guest house and educational complex on Prince Anwar Shah Road Thursday afternoon, sparking panic in the densely populated area.
The blaze broke out in the building around 1 pm and spread rapidly, with initial attempts by residents to control it proving insufficient. Multiple fire engines were rushed to the scene. Firefighters successfully brought the inferno under control after an intense 40-minute operation.
Fire department sources confirmed that all occupants trapped inside the building were safely rescued, and there were no injuries reported in the incident.
Officials believe the fire originated in a temporary shelter on the roof of the building, which was completely destroyed. A few employees of the guest house, however, claimed that the section of the roof where the fire started was not in use.
The quick spread of the fire through the upper floors and the proximity of the complex to other houses caused considerable alarm among nearby residents. Fire officials contained the flames before they could spread to the lower floors of the building, preventing a more serious disaster.
It is worth mentioning that a devastating fire on the first floor of the Rituraj Hotel at Mechhuapatti in the Burrabazar area on April 29 this year had killed 15 people — most of whom were guests trapped inside their rooms. This fire had prompted Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor and Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim to order the immediate closure of all rooftop restaurants and bars within the city for some time.
Ahead of the Durga Puja festivities, Hakim announced in August that they would be allowed to reopen after a high-level meeting where city officials finalised a comprehensive set of fire safety protocols.
A few days before the Burrabazar fire, on the night of April 24, two persons had died in a fire that broke out at a garment warehouse, which is also a residential building-cum-business centre, in the Pathuriaghata area.
Two months later, in June, a fire had engulfed around 1,300 shops in the nearly 150-year-old Khidderpore market on Orphangunge Road.
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