Several shop floors gutted on Ranganathan Street

A fire that broke out in a multi-storeyed shop, Saravana Stores, on Ranganathan Street on Monday morning spread to the abutting utensils shop, damaging several floors in the two buildings.

Officials said two employees of the shop, Kottaisamy and Ramajeyam, were reported missing and efforts were on to locate them. Police and fire service personnel rescued 13 staff members from the shop. Fire service personnel said until the debris on the sixth floor of the utensil shop cooled, they would not be able to confirm whether there was any casualty.

Shop assistants were sleeping on the upper floor of the shops. More than 100 people spent the night in the building. The fire was contained around noon.

City Police Commissioner R. Sekar said they received a call at 6.10 a.m. and special teams were formed to cordon off the area and assist fire service personnel in extinguishing the flames. “With minimum traffic diversions, we ensured that the fire did not spread to adjacent buildings,” he said. “The cause of fire apparently seems to be a short circuit,” Mr. Sekar said.

Eyewitnesses said the fire was noticed around 5.45 a.m. on the second and third floor of Lucky Plaza that houses the godown of Saravana Stores.

It spread to the lower floors of the Plaza, a shopping mall with scores of small shops and to the nearby Saravana Stores building, housing the utensils shop. Within two hours, even as fire fighters were trying to put out the blaze, it spread to the adjacent jewellery shop.

Smoke billowed several metres above the buildings radiating heat. The smell of acrid smoke hung in the residential areas around Ranganathan Street, which remained congested with thousands of spectators mutely watching the flames in awe. Police used megaphones to regulate curious pedestrians thronging Usman Road.

Tension prevailed for an hour after the fire began, as people in Suganthi Mansion that shares a wall with Lucky Plaza were not aware of the commotion. A few men ventured into the building and police urged the groggy residents to vacate the premises.

Fire tenders and Metrowater lorries were parked on Ranganathan Street and Natesan Street and a sky lift was positioned on each street to fight the fire.

Three hours after the fire broke out, four explosions rocked the building causing fear that the building might collapse.

Fire officials attributed the explosions to bursting of refrigerators and air-conditioners in the godown.

When the fire fighters eventually entered the buildings they found four-foot high hot debris on the sixth floor of the utensil shop, said S. Veeramani, Divisional Fire Officer.

“We had warned the shopkeepers but they paid no attention. Even now they contend that it is the first time a major fire had broken out in the area,” he said.

“The building may require a stabilisation certificate from the Public Works Department officials before the owners can take up repair work.”