Four escape major fire at Jubilee Hills

doneHyderabad: Four persons had a narrow escape in a major fire accident that took place in a multi-storeyed commercial building on Jubilee Hills Road No. 36 on Thursday. The occupants broke a glass panel to jump out and save themselves as thick smoke had engulfed the building.
The fire broke out at the premises that earlier housed Mangala Gowri Grandeur. The blaze had erupted at around 11.20 am and spread quickly to the elevation on the front facade. The incident led to panic, with fears that the flames might spread to neighbouring buildings. However, fire department officials rushed fire tenders to the spot and began firefighting operations.The management of Mangala Gowri had vacated the premises in Dec, and the building had been lying vacant since then. On Thursday, the property owner had taken up works to dismantle the POP elevation and had hired welders. "When they were at work, sparks from the welding fell on the POP, which caught fire and spread to the elevation. The property inside the building was intact," said assistant commissioner of police Venkat Reddy to TOI.Meanwhile, one side of the busy road was closed to traffic to allow the free movement of fire tenders."The watchman of the building, on noticing the fire, escaped from the spot. Three other family members, including my wife, and I, who were inside attending to minor civil works, were trapped as the smoke spread rapidly. We went to the third floor," one of the occupants, Narsamma, who managed to escape told media."We began to experience difficulty in breathing due to the heavy smoke. Fearing for our lives, we decided to come down in near darkness. Although we used a torch, visibility was extremely poor. We managed to descend using the stairs. All four of us then broke the glass panels along the staircase and managed to escape," another escapee said.After an hour of firefighting, the situation was brought under control.MSID:: 128814990 413 |