Hyderabad: Residents of buildings nearby the Ramgopalpet sportswear shop that caught fire on Thursday were absolutely distraught because the fire completely gutted their homes. They had no time to gather their belongings before leaving their homes and were forced to wait outside the entire day.
B. Devika, who was among the several people stranded, broke down in tears as she feared that the fire would have completely gutted their building, which houses two families. She stated that when they first noticed a small fire at the sportswear store, they quickly left their building out of concern that the fire might spread to their building as well. We didn't have time to bring any belongings with us; all we cared about was the protection of our children,” she said.
A. Susheela, an elderly woman stranded outside her home, was inconsolable as she saw the house she had lived in for decades burn in front of her. Four families had been evacuated from buildings near the sportswear store in the morning, and since then, they all had been stranded on the street, she said.
“Several families have sent the children to their relatives' houses since they don't know when they will be able to find shelter again. We still haven't heard anything about the condition of our homes, and neither the police nor GHMC officials who visited the scene have given us any information," she said.
According to GHMC officials, the six-floor building which caught fire had permission for only four floors, and the two upper floors were unauthorised. The GHMC is yet to find the permission copy of the building, and will inspect it on Friday.
BJP leader and former vice-chairman of National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who was present at the spot, said it was important to learn lessons from the incident. He said it appeared that officials from the fire department had underestimated the extent of the fire, and thus did not extinguish it at an early stage. The fire tenders, once they had exhausted their water, had to return to their stations to refuel water, he said.
“There was a similar incident in Bhoiguda last year, when a scrap godown caught fire. We should take stock of whether such buildings should be allowed to function in residential areas. Usually, disasters happen and after that we just forget about them, but instead we should learn lessons from them,” he said.
According to the GHMC, they received a fire call at 11.20 am stating that a building having cellar plus ground plus six upper floors caught fire and requested help. DRF Team Nos. 3, 8,10 and 25 were sent out along with a load-all ladder to support firefighting operations of the fire service department. EVDM director Viswajith Kampati visited the spot to monitor the situation.
Another two District Fire Officers and four Station Fire Officers of GHMC also attended, monitored, and supported the firefighting operations. On Thursday evening, the GHMC stated that the blaze was brought under control, but firefighting activities were still going on, and may take another few hours for completion.
