T‘puram: A major fire broke out at Kulavikonam in Nedumangad on Monday evening, gutting two textile shops and damaging two other commercial establishments in the area, which has several major shops.The fire broke out at Roja Textiles around 6.30pm and later spread to the neighbouring Cocktail textile shop, a jewellery shop and a mobile phone shop. The two textile shops were completely gutted in the blaze.When the fire broke out, staff at the shops managed to escape from the premises. No casualties have been reported.Locals who noticed the fire and smoke alerted the fire and rescue services. Three units of fire and rescue services from Nedumangad reached the spot and launched firefighting operations.“The fire had spread from the textile shops to the neighbouring establishments, but we managed to prevent it from spreading further,” a fire and rescue services official said.The fire caused panic in the area as flames spread rapidly in the busy commercial stretch. Firefighters carried out extensive firefighting and cooling operations to ensure that the flames did not spread to other shops and buildings.A short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire, though the exact cause is yet to be confirmed.The extent of damage to the shops and goods stored inside them is yet to be assessed. The police and fire officials are expected to conduct a detailed inspection to ascertain the cause of the fire and assess the losses.
