Major fire at Kolkata slum, several shanties gutted

Kolkata, Dec 20 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) A major fire broke out at a slum located at Topsia in eastern Kolkata on Friday, leaving several shanties totally gutted and the families residing there homeless.

No casualty has been reported so far. However, the fire officers, who were at the spot with nine fire tenders to deal with the situation, were facing a tough time in bringing the raging blaze under control because of the high wind speed and dingy lanes, leading to the slum.

“Our prime task is to ensure that the fire does not spread to the adjacent localities. However, we are facing problems in the exercise because of the narrow and dingy lanes leading to the slum, which is making our task even more difficult. At the same time, we are also trying to ensure that no one is trapped within the slum where the fire has broken out,” said a fire officer.

He also said that because of the high wind speed and the presence of inflammable items, the fire at the slum had spread fast. In addition, the LPG cylinders stocked at the different shanties in the slum started bursting one after another, thus adding to the crisis.

The local people launched the initial firefighting efforts, using water from the local water body there. However, the locals complained that although the nearest fire station was informed immediately, the fire tenders took a long time to arrive at the spot.

Initially, five fire tenders reached the spot and started the fire-fighting exercise. However, as the fire started spreading fast, four other fire tenders joined them. The state administration has already announced that the residents of the shanties will be initially provided temporary accommodations and subsequently provided with necessary compensation.