Chennai: Employees rescued from banks on fire

Chennai: A fire that broke out at a commercial complex on Second Line Beach, Parry’s caused panic among employees of several financial institutions on Friday. The fire was put out after Tamil Nadu Fire Services (TNFRS) personnel waged a two-hour battle. No casualty was reported in the accident that occurred in Dass India Towers.

Some employees of a private bank in the first floor of the 3-storey building bailed out breaking a window and climbing down with the help of ladders provided by people from neighbouring offices. Eight persons, including four women employees, who were stranded in the second floor moved up to the third floor as billowing smoke billowed prevented them from using the stairs. A 54 metre Bronto Sky Lift was deployed to rescue the stranded without any injuries.

TNFRS sources said the fire broke out at 9.30 am. “The distress call was received at 10.10 am. The fire tender from Esplanade station was dispatched. On assessing the situation, we roped in an Emergency Rescue Tender and as many as eight water lorries,” said M. Shahul Hameed, Joint Director, TNFRS- Northern Region, Chennai.       

“Many had misconstrued the fire to have originated from the third floor due to the thick smoke billowing from the building. It is only after we arrived that we established the fire to have started from the backup power generator, which was meant to power up the business office of the building proprietor having operations in the ground floor. We doused the fire, and those stranded were helped out of the building with the help of a sky lift,” said M. Manivannan, District Officer, TNFRS- Chennai City North.

Sources said the fire was doused at around 11.30 am and the spot allowed to cool down.

As smoke continued to emanate from the building, it was declared safe only after 4 pm for people to enter the building without any safety gear like breathing devices.

The building houses offices of Dass India Money Changer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, Yes Bank and Goodwill Financial Services, among several other business houses including leather bag retailers. The fire from the generator had ravaged the materials stored in the basement by the retailers. The entire building remained evacuated while the banks had put up boards declaring closure for the day citing the mishap.

Yes Bank, one of the occupants of the building with its branch located on the ground floor, released a statement clarifying that the fire has not been affected the floor on which the bank is present. The release also clarified that there was no loss of life or property and the bank was closed today since the power to the building was shut off.

Fire ravages pharma godown
A fire broke out in the drug godown of a Mumbai based pharma company at the Guindy Labour Colony, on Friday ravaging Rs 10 lakhs worth drugs while 11 workers escaped the fire by a whisker.

Sources said the fire broke out at 11.40 am on the ground floor and spread to the first floor. Four tenders were pressed into service and the fire was doused.