A major fire broke out in an automobile showroom on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday morning causing widespread damage to its workshop, storeroom, offices and garages.
While police sources said there was no loss of life or injuries to any one, the showroom sources said properties worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in the inferno that engulfed the entire three-storied building.
The showroom exclusively deals with vehicles of Maruti Suzuki India limited and is located at Bhanapur along the National Highway, about 10 km from here.
Fire officers claimed they received a call at around 6.10 am and soon fire tenders from Cuttack, Barang and Bhubaneswar were mobilised to rush to the spot. “At least seven fire tenders struggled for over three hours to bring the fire under control,” said Fire Officer Bhabagrahi Panigrahi, adding that lubricants and petrol stored in the storeroom intensified the inferno and spread quickly to other parts of the showroom.
While the fire officers were unable to pinpoint the cause of the fire, they suspected electric short circuit as the reason. “We first noticed smoke billowing out of the ground floor, which housed the storeroom and spare parts depot,” said a manager of the workshop, who had arrived at the showroom at around 6 am along with some mechanics.
“The fire spread very quickly and the few staffs present at the spot in the early morning feared to enter into the building to use the in-house fire fighting measures, said an eyewitness, adding that the staffs made frantic phone calls to fire stations in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.