NEW DELHI
A 16-year-old girl was rescued from a fire that erupted in a residential building in East of Kailash early Thursday, fire department officials said, adding there was no injury reported in the incident. It took four hours for the fire department to put out the flames and the cause was uncertain, officials said.
Delhi Fire Services director Atul Garg said the fire broke out in F-Block around 5.50am and eight fire tenders were pressed into service. The building comprised a basement, stilt parking, upper-ground, first, second and third floors, he said.
“The entire building caught fire. There were offices and shops on the upper-ground floor and three floors above that were inhabited by families,” he said.
Additional divisional officer Yashwant Meena, who responded to the fire call, said: “There is no clarity on where the fire started from but at the spot, people said that fire started from an air conditioner on the first floor and then spread to the upper ground, second and third floors. There was so much smoke. Most people managed to come out of the building themselves.”
Meena said that a clinic and salon on the upper-ground floor were shut at the time of the incident.
While all inhabitants exited the building, the 16-year-old girl was stuck on a balcony of her second-floor house. “She got scared and didn’t come out. A fireman climbed up a ladder and helped bring her down. She was unhurt,” Meena said.
Officials said the fire was controlled by 9am and the flames were doused by 9.50am.
Meena said that most possessions in all residences were gutted. “Only a few things may have been saved. Everything was burnt,” Meena said.
