Major fire in Kolkata’s busy Park Street area

Kolkata, June 11 (IANS) A major fire broke out at the busy Park Street area in central Kolkata on Tuesday.

Although no casualty has been reported so far, hours after the fire was first noticed, the officials and staff of the fire services department and disaster management departments were struggling to bring the fire entirely under control.

The fire was first noted at around 10.45 a.m. in a pub-cum-restaurant located at a multi-storey building at the busy Park Street crossing. Five fire tenders immediately rushed to the spot and started operations to extinguish the fire.

However, as the intensity of the blazes increased more fire tenders were sent to the spot. At the time the report was filed, a total of 15 fire tenders were trying to bring the fire fully under control.

The state Fire Services Minister, Sujit Bose rushed to the spot and was seen supervising the entire fire-fighting process.

“Fortunately, no casualty has been reported so far. Those who were there at the building then have been safely evacuated. Our prime target is to bring the fire totally under control. In the later stage, we will investigate the reason behind the fire. We will also investigate whether the fire safety norms have been violated in any way or not,” Bose said.

Traffic movement has been restricted in the area for the time being, which led to traffic congestion on the adjacent roads.

Fire services department insiders said that in all probability the source of the fire was any of the cooking gas cylinders stocked in the cooking room of the pub-cum-restaurant. “At a later stage after the fire is extinguished completely and the cooling process is completed, the officers from the forensic department will examine the spot to ascertain the reason and source behind the fire,” said a department official.

--IANS

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