Three fire incidents were reported from the national capital on Tuesday including a massive blaze at a commercial complex building in central Delhi’s Jhandewalan extension prompting the fire department to deploy 18 fire brigades.

Huge flames and plumes of thick black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from a distance as the fire engulfed the entire building, which houses a private bank, multiple offices and a pizza outlet.

Prompt action by locals and passersby helped in the immediate evacuation of people who were present inside the Anarkali Complex in Block E 3, the officials said. Nobody got injured in the incident that happened around 2 pm, they said.

However, several vehicles caught fire as parts of the burning hoardings fell on them.

Initially, eight fire brigades were pressed into service but as the flames were spreading fast due to high winds, more tenders were deployed to contain the fire, a Delhi Fire Services official said.

The firefighters are spraying water on the top floors of the building using a crane. So far, nobody has been found trapped inside, he said. DCP (Central) M Harsha Vardhan said the fire had spread to a DDA shopping complex nearby. Firefighters and police personnel are at the spot.

According to the police, the area has been cordoned off. Some renovation work was underway on the second and third floors of the building. The fire also spread to a private bank inside the building but nobody got injured as the bank was not operational today, they said.

Meanwhile, Krishan Singh, an eyewitness said, “It was around 2 pm, when people saw thick black smoke coming out of the building. “At first we thought that the workers engaged in renovation work may have burnt something. But later we saw flames and immediately rushed there and raised an alarm,” he said.

Another eyewitness, Ajay, who works as a branch manager at a private bank nearby, informed that his car was gutted by the fire. “I was least bothered about my car. I was more worried about the workers inside the pizza outlet. I immediately rushed to the spot and helped them to come out,” he added. In another incident, a fire broke out at a parking lot in northeast Delhi’s Shastri Park area. 

Several cars were gutted in the blaze that broke out near the Shastri Park Fish Market. A call regarding the incident was received around 2.30 pm, the official said. In the third incident, a fire broke out in a slum cluster in northwest Delhi’s New Seelampur area. No casualties were reported in the blaze that broke out at 7:35 am near Jag Parvesh Hospital.  Seven fire tenders were rushed to the site to control the flames and by 8:15 am, the fire was contained totally. Officials said four to five huts were affected in the blaze.