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One lakh books lost in fire that ravaged store for over 20 hours.

October 1, 2015

Over a lakh books, magazines, stationery, DVDs and furniture were destroyed in a fire that broke out at the Crossword book store at Sohrab Hall, located behind the Pune railway station, on Sunday (27 Sept 2015) night.

Fire brigade said the cause of fire is not known, but store general manager Bhaskar Nighojkar issued a statement on Monday blaming short-circuit for the accident. The store is located in shops numbering 135 to 152 on the first floor. The fire broke out around 8.30 pm when the shop had shut down.The staff broke the lock and used three fire fighting equipment, but failed to control it. Fire tenders rushed to the spot on receiving a phone call from the police control room. The accident threw traffic out of gear for several hours on Sunday night as vehicles moved at snail’s pace. Chief fire officer Prashant Ranpise said, “Thick fumes were emanating from the store because of lack of ventilation. The situation prevented us from entering the shop for some time. The windows could not be opened because they were sealed with plywood and book racks.”

Two fire men sustained minor injuries when they tried to break the windows. “Finally, we had to use a JCB machine and a crane to break the windows, plywood sheets and enter through the balcony. We pressed in 13 fire tenders, 10 officers, 50 firemen and two water tanks. We could finally gain control by 5 pm. We kept spraying water till Monday afternoon because the goods were constantly catching fire at some or the other place. We also sprayed sufficient water on the nearby premises to ensure the fire does not spread.” Four people trapped inside the building were rescued. Three people on the terrace were brought down safely. “We used a snorkel to bring down another person stuck on the fifth floor. We don’t know why the store had sealed all the windows,” Ranpise said. Assistant divisional fire brigade office D N Nagalkar said, “Thick black fumes had engulfed the building when we reached the spot. We could not identity the source of fire. This made our task extremely difficult. We then pulled our men from Ganapati immersion duty and broke the wall to give an outlet to fumes. Meanwhile, our team had surrounded the building with six hose pipes.”

“The Sohrab hall has a fire fighting system but it could not be used because it was not properly maintained. We utilized the water stored on the premises. We will issue the hall management a notice to improve its fire fighting system,” Nagalkar said. The hall’s property manager Nikhil Madhur said, “Our staff broke store lock and used fire fighting equipment, but in vain. We then alerted the fire brigade which rushed to the spot. Nearly 100 shops and offices may remain close for one or two days. We have switched off four transformers, four elevators and a water pump for security reasons. The incident did not cause damage to other properties because of preventive measures taken by the fire brigade.” Meanwhile, the store’s general manager Nighojkar said, “We are in the process of calculating the losses. We will adopt safety measures to avert such incidents in future. The store will be renovated at the earliest.”



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