Fire in godown in Delhi, goods worth lakhs of rupees destroyed

A fire broke out at a godown in north Delhi's Sadar Bazar area this morning that destroyed goods worth lakhs of rupees but there was no report of any casualty.
"The fire broke out at 7 AM in Gali no 11 at an exports company godown in Bartan Market. We have not received any reports of any casualties yet. The fire was doused by 1.50 AM but the cooling operations lasted till 6 PM.
"21 fire tenders have been rushed to the spot and the operation to control the fire is still on," a Delhi Fire Service official said.
There was no report of any casualty in the fire, officials said.

Fire department officials faced difficulties in dousing the fire since the lane where the building was located is quite narrow.
"We parked our vehicle on the main Qutub road which is some 300 odd metres away and the water hose was laid from there till the affected building. From the main Qutub road, the fire hose must have covered close to 450 metres," said GC Mishra, director, Delhi Fire Services.

The officer also said that another problem the officers faced was reaching the affected area of the building.
"The building had a weak structure. By evening a part of the structure had collapsed and the other half was also tilted," he added.

Another fire officer said, "The building had six floors and its weak base couldn't support the structure. The building had developed cracks and there was a threat to the lives of our firefighters since the building could have collapsed at any moment."
Police has registered an FIR under section 436 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc) IPC and is investigating the cause of the fire.
"The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. However, it is suspected that it might have been caused due to short-circuit or someone might have thrown a burning bidi there. Five neighbouring buildings were also affected due to the fire," said a senior police officer.