Fire damages four houses

SURAT, June 18: Four houses in the Vadi Falia-Golwad area of the city were severely damaged in a major fire that broke out late on Wednesday night. Although property worth lakhs of rupees is said to have been damaged in the fire, that took over two hours to be controlled, not a single person is reported to have been injured.

According to fire brigade sources, a two-storeyed building located at 3/3653 Purabiya Street at Vadi Falia-Golwad, belonging to one Manilal Zaverbhai Rana, a jari-workshop owner, caught fire after a gas leakage in his house. Within minutes, the fire engulfed the entire house and spread to the adjacent houses 8212; belonging to Dahyabhai Jagjivan Rana, Amrut Ishwarlal Rana and Jaikishan Thakoredas Rana 8212; which were connected to each other.With about 20 fire fighters and an equal number of fire tankers reaching the spot in about half-an-hour, more than 250 cartons of jari and 150 cartons of finished jari work were gutted in the fire.

All the four houses had jari workshops running in their premises, fire brigade sources said, adding that the fire was completely extinguished in about five hours and the last fire fighter reported back to the station only after 2 a.m. on Thursday, during which practically all the belongings in the houses were reduced to ashes.

According to the residents of the area and eye witnesses, fire fighters had reached almost an hour late and this was one of the reasons why the damage to property was so high. Nitinbhai Rana, a resident of the area, alleged that if the fire fighters had reached a little earlier, the loss of property could have been reduced. All residents were rushed out of their respective houses as soon as the fire broke out, residents said.