1 dead after fire at Grant Road’s old wood market; blaze under control

Speaking to The Indian Express, senior officials from the ward’s fire office said that the fire broke out at the timber market situated near a popular eatery at Grant Road. “The fire erupted in one of the shops inside the old wood market in the locality. The blaze then spread to the other shops located in the vicinity, most of which were wooden godowns,”

The civic body is yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

CFO Ambulgekar said, “We are still investigating the cause of the fire. The cause of the fire will be known once we prepare our detailed report.”

Meanwhile, responding to questions, an official from the BMC’s Disaster Management office said, “The people inside the nearby high-rise had vacated the building themselves in time ensuring that no one was trapped”.

The fire, which broke out at one of the shops at the old wood market in Grant Road, was reported at 2.07 am on January 26 and was declared level IV at 3.03 am. According to the preliminary report of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire had spread to nearly 400 to 500 shops in the locality.

“The fire is confined to electric wiring, stock of wood, stock of chemicals in the ground and ground plus upper one and partly upper two floored structures/Gala in an area of about 7000 square feet to 8000 sq ft. Also confined to about 400 to 500 shops/hotels nearby,” a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report said earlier in the day.

Senior officials said the body of the man was taken to the civic J J hospital.

To aid the rescue operations, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) had pressed 18 lines of 16 fire engines, including six hose lines from the north side, three hose lines from the west side, three from the south side, five from the eastside and one line of the building’s internal fire fighting system. Two lines from the high-rise buildings were also deployed to put out the fire.