A sudden fire that broke out near the main railway station of Bhopal on Sunday evening created panic in the area. The fire broke out in the wooden stalls adjacent to the Patra bridge at around 7:30 pm, which spread rapidly to 5 to 6 stalls within a few minutes. Due to the dense smoke, there was chaos in the surrounding areas and local people were seen running towards safe places. The flames were so high that they were visible far and wide. Teams tried to stop the fire by pouring water from all directions. Fire officials said that due to the abundance of wood, it was difficult to control the flames, but the fire was stopped from spreading by late night.
25 fire brigades deployed on the spot
As soon as the information was received, 20 to 25 fire brigade vehicles reached the spot and started relief work. Parvez of the fire brigade team said that the fire has been controlled further, but it is taking time to extinguish it completely. Due to dry wood, the fire continued to flare up rapidly, due to which the teams had to put in a lot of effort to extinguish it.
Railway department also alert, no impact on track
The railway line is only about 100–150 meters away from where the fire broke out. According to Railway PRO Naval Aggarwal, the situation is being continuously monitored and train operations have not been affected so far.
Fear of short circuit, no casualties
The cause of the incident is not clear, but locals say the fire was probably caused by a short circuit. According to Collector Kaushalendra Vikram Singh, there has been no loss of life, while investigation into the cause of the fire has been started.
Many factories and machines burnt, loss worth crores
The main road leading to Patra Bridge was closed between Bharat Talkies and Bogda Bridge, bringing traffic to a standstill. According to the timber trader, 4–5 factories, two sawmills and a large quantity of timber were burnt to ashes. According to preliminary estimates, the loss could be between Rs 1.5 to 2 crore.
Officials and public representatives took stock
Collector Kaushalendra Vikram Singh and police officers reached the spot in the night itself. MLA Arif Masood also visited the site and took information about the situation and said that the issue of removal of illegal machines from the towers had been raised earlier also, which would be reviewed.
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Electricity supply stopped, jam on main road
After the fire escalated, the power supply to Bharat Talkies area was stopped due to security reasons. At the same time, due to smoke and crowd, there was a traffic jam on the main road. Many people were seen trying to save things by taking out goods from their shelves. An eyewitness to the incident said that as soon as the fire broke out, the flames spread rapidly and within a short time engulfed several blocks. He said that the first fire brigade team arrived about half an hour after the fire broke out, by which time the fire had spread considerably.
