Six of a family die in Firozabad fire, CM announces compensation

AGRA: Six people of a family were killed and three others sustained injuries in a major fire that broke out in a two-storey house in Firozabad’s Padam town on Tuesday night. The fire allegedly started on the ground floor which has shops and it soon spread to the first floor where the family lived, said officials.

“Six were killed in a tragic fire incident probably caused because of a short circuit at the house located within limits of Jasrna police station of Firozabad district,” said district magistrate Ravi Ranjan, who reached the spot during the rescue operation on Tuesday night.

He added, “The victims include three adults and three children. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the deaths and declared a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin for each of the deceased. Three family members were rescued.” DM Firozabad also revealed that 18 fire tenders were pressed into rescue action which lasted about three hours.

House owner Raman Prakash ran shops -- furniture, electronics, and a jewellery store -- on the ground floor. Due to the blaze, which broke out around 7 pm on Tuesday, residents of the house got trapped on the first floor.

Based on prima facie evidence, SSP Firozabad Ashish Tiwari said that inverters put on charging at the electronics shop led to the fire. “We have ordered an audit of the electric wiring at shops in the market, especially those that are located along with the residential portion,” added SSP Tiwari.

The victims have been identified as -- Manoj (35), Neeraj (33), Bharat (15), Shivani (22), Harsh Vardhan (12), and Tejaswi (six months). Meanwhile, the incident has triggered anger among town residents who allege that the lives of the six people could have been saved had the firefighters arrived with equipment on time. They say it’s high time for the town to get its own fire station.

In a similar incident in Agra a couple of months ago, three people were killed in a fire that started in the base of a house and later spread to the first floor. A hospital was running in the basement of this house in the city’s Shahganj area.