Valuable worth lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes after a massive fire broke out at a cloth store in Cuttack’s Choudhury Bazar early Friday morning. Fortunately, there has been no report of any casualties due to the fire mishap so far.
On being informed, firefighters rushed to the spot and are battling to extinguish the flames. Even as the fire was brought under control, the entire area was engulfed by smoke, making it hard for the firefighters to carry out the rescue operation.
As per reports, the fire first broke out on the ground floor of the cloth store and soon spread to the upper floor. Efforts are on to stop the fire from spreading to closeby shops.
“There is heavy smoke which is preventing us from entering the building. Efforts are on to reduce the smoke by pouring more water. We have cleared the ground floor, but efforts are on to stop the fire on the first and second floor,” informed a fire officer.
“Fortunately, there was no one inside the building during the fire mishap. Three firefighting teams have been engaged to douse the flames. Another team has also been alerted to reach the spot. The fire spread easily as there were sarees in the shop,” he added.
The firefighter teams are yet to establish the exact reason behind the fire mishap.