Fire still on at some parts in Kolkata's Burrabazar area building

Even 24 hours after it was first noticed, fire still raged on in some pockets of a century-old building in city's commercial hub Burrabazar area on Tuesday night, fire officials said.

"The fire is still on in some pockets of the building. 11 fire tenders are still working to put out the blaze. The fire tenders would be kept at the spot overnight to bring the situation completely under control," a fire official said.

The officials said the building at A3, Amaratala Lane has been completely gutted.

"It was a huge fire. The building has been massively impacted by it as a result. But we can't say if it would collapse," the official said.

Three firefighters were injured while combating the blaze on Monday night. There are no reports of further injuries since then," he added.

State Fire Services Minister and City Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who was present at the spot on Monday night, earlier said the administration would hold discussions with all stakeholders so that such situations could be averted in future.

"The lanes near the building were very narrow. So the fire fighters faced a lot of difficulty in reaching the spot. The administration would sit with the Municipal Corporation, Fire Department and the city police and discuss in detail so that we can prevent similar incidents," Chatterjee said.

He also lauded the fire fighters for doing a "remarkable job" in handling the situation.

"The fire fighters and the disaster management team did a remarkable job in controlling the situation," he added.

The major fire broke out at a multi-storied building at Kolkata's Burrabazar around 9.35 p.m. on Monday. The blaze reportedly intensified as a lot of inflammable material were kept in the building. 35 fire tenders had to be pressed into service initially to control the blaze.

--IANS

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