Rayagada: Properties worth more than Rs 3 crore were reportedly destroyed in a major fire in a commercial establishment in Odisha’s Rayagada town late Friday night.
As per reports, Rabindra Kumar, the owner of a medicine shop in the main market at Kapilas Road of the town, was informed by some known persons that smoke was coming out of a hardware shop adjacent to his shop around midnight. “When I rushed to the shop, the hardware shop owner was also present. Suspecting that fire might have spread inside the shop, we did not open those and informed the Fire Brigade,” he said.
When two teams of Fire personnel from Rayagada and Kolnara arrived there, fire had started coming out of the hardware shop and spread to the medicine shop. They immediately started their operation to extinguish the fire.
“We first contained the fire outside the shops and gradually went inside. Since there were a heavy stock of plastic materials and different chemicals, the fire had spread rapidly. It took both teams nearly 4 hours to totally control the fire,” said Sangram Hansda, Fire Officer of Rayagada.
He also said the Fire personnel faced difficulties as there was no fire escape facility in the building. Besides, both shops did not have any fire control measures, he added.
Rayagada SP Vivekanand Sharma, who was also present at the spot, said the Fire Brigade suspected the fire to have been started by electrical short-circuit in the hardware shop. From the initial reports, it is estimated that properties worth Rs 2-3 crore were damaged, he added.
