Employees of an advertising agency had a providential escape when a major fire broke out in a multi-storey building near Palasia police station on Monday afternoon. In the incident, property worth lakhs of rupees is reported to have been gutted. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon when a fire broke out in an office of an advertising company located on the fifth floor of Captain CK Naidu Arcade near Greater Kailash hospital in Palasia locality.
According to eye-witnesses, fire was caused due to an air-conditioner of the office. Within minutes of the incident, fire spread throughout the fifth floor with some people of the office remaining inside the office. Panic gripped the whole premises with people residing on different floors running for safety towards the ground floor. People living in the building immediately informed about the incident to the fire brigade and subsequently, after some time, fire brigade personnel along with fire tender vehicles rushed to the incident site. However, it took a lot of efforts on the part of fire fighters to put off the fire.
Those who had got stuck inside the office of the building were evacuated to safety after breaking off the windows panes of the building. One fire brigade jawan sustained injuries while breaking the widow panes. According to fire brigade in-charge inspector Shivnarayan Sharma, the fire had been caused by blast in an air conditioner and there was no fire fighting provision in the whole building.