A fire broke out at auto-parts market in the metropolis in the wee hours of Thursday. “We were informed by a caller, who might be a watchman, at 2:30am that a fire broke out in the basement of Rafiq Plaza, one of the busiest auto-part markets of the metropolis, where most of the auto part warehouses were located, a firefighter official Ehtisham said.
Some 22 fire tenders and a snorkel were sent to the spot, which engaged in extinguishing the fire,” he informed. “Some eight auto-part warehouses, where several drums of combustible substances were present, were completely gutted in the fire before we rushed to the scene, hence we had to need more tenders for backup,” he said.
Ehtisham said later more fire brigade trucks from KPT and DHA fire stations were dispatched to the fire incident place to control the fire,” he maintained. He said the fire was completely brought under control within six hours and no body was reported hurt in this incident. He said that the goods of eight warehouses and six auto-part shops of mezzanine floors worth over Rs10 million were burnt to ashes and added that the cause of the fire could not be ascertained yet.
However, the traders held extortionists responsible for this incident. They also staged a protest demonstration and chanted slogans against the law enforcement agencies. They said that there was no short-circuit behind this incident. They asked authority concerned to take stern action against the wrongdoers to avert such incidents in the future. staff report – Daily Times
