BHUBANESWAR: Around 15 garment shops were gutted in a major fire that broke out at the Uni-2 Market Building on Tuesday morning, officials said. The blaze was reported around 6 am and quickly spread through the cluster of shops, which were stocked with highly combustible materials such as silk garments, they added. Five fire tenders were pressed into service, and it took about four hours to bring the fire under control. Officials said no casualties were reported. “Along with extinguishing the fire, our priority was to prevent it from spreading to adjoining shops,” Assistant Fire Officer Manoj Kumar Rout said. “Since most of the shops were locked, firefighters used hydraulic spread cutters to force open the shutters before beginning operations,” he said. The market was closed on Monday, according to shopkeeper Pramod Kumar Sahoo. “We sell men’s ready-made garments and sherwanis for wedding functions. I received information about the fire around 7.30 am, but by then everything had been reduced to ashes,” another shopkeeper said. Officials suspect that an electrical short circuit may have triggered the blaze, though the exact cause will be confirmed only after a detailed investigation.
