2 fires devastate Aishbagh slums, render 500 homeless
Over 500 families were rendered homeless as their huts were gutted in two major fires in Aishbagh locality in Bazarkhala area on Diwali day (Thursday). Nearly 10 people also received minor burns while trying to retrieve their belongings.
The first incident took place in a slum near Habibnagar behind Aishbagh eidgah where over 350 families of rag pickers had been living for the past many years. The fire broke out at around 7pm and soon engulfed in the entire slum before fire tenders from Chowk fire station reached there and control the flames.
Eyewitness said the blaze was so massive that two fire tenders that initially reached the spot failed to control it. “Over 27 fire tenders were pressed into service but it took the entire night to douse the flames. The fire tenders from Telco, HAL and army were also called to extinguish the inferno,” said AB Pandey, chief fire officer (CFO).
Pandey said at least four JCBs (earthmoving machines) remained deployed till Friday evening to remove rubble and completely douse the flames.
The CFO said the situation became difficult as another major fire was caused in another slum located barely a kilometre away in Motinagar. He said this slum fire also engulfed a plywood fac- tory adjacent to it. The wind helped the fire spread and nearly 150 huts of the slum were totally reduced to ashes. The factory also suffered a major loss.
“The fire tenders were applied turn by turn on both the spots and fire fighters had to work really hard for over 12 hours to control the flames, otherwise the fire would have engulfed more buildings and factories,” the CFO said, adding the exact reason behind the fires could not be ascertained but it was suspected that cracker sparks might have triggered the tragedy.
EYEWITNESS SAID THE BLAZE WAS SO MASSIVE THAT TWO FIRE TENDERS THAT INITIALLY REACHED THE SPOT FAILED TO CONTROL IT