NAVI MUMBAI: A major fire broke out in a G+3 storeyed commercial building located in the bylane of sector 23, Turbhe near the flyover opposite to NMMT bus depot on Sunday evening. Three shops including a hardware store, an electronic shop and ceramic shop were gutted in the fire, informed Rohan Kokate, fire officer of Vashi fire station.Kokate said, “The fire had spread to an apartment in the corner of an adjacent building, where a family resided, but they immediately evacuated.”Purushottam Jadhav, Vashi Divisional Fire Officer said, “Vashi fire station had received the emergency fire call at 5.33 pm. The fire fighting rescue team with five fire engines immediately rushed to the building. Prima facie, the fire broke out in the electronic store on the first floor probably due to a short-circuit in the airconditioner unit. The fire spread to the adjacent hardware store and the ceramic shop. Fortunately, there was no casualty as the employees at the shops had immediately evacuated to safety before the fire raged. While the fire fighting operation was being carried out, the fire fighters reached the upper floor using ladder and conducted a search to ensure that no person was trapped.”Jadhav said, “The fire even partially gutted a closed shop on the ground floor. As the fire was raging, probably due to the paint thinner stocked for sale at the hardware store becoming fodder for the fire, to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent residential-cum-commercial buildings, more fire engines and water tankers were summoned from other fire stations. As many as 10 fire engines from Koparkhairane, Airoli, Nerul, CBD-Belapur and Vashi along with eight water tankers were pressed into service for the fire fighting operation. It took around two hours to completely extinguish the fire around 7.30pm, which was followed by cooling operation by continuously spraying water jet.”
