Firefighters brought under control a blaze that engulfed two floors of a 13-story commercial building at M.A. Jinnah road in Karachi on Tuesday, with no casualties reported.
In a statement, Rescue 1122 had said its fire and rescue team — along with two ambulances, four firetrucks, and a snorkel — reached the site as soon as they received an alert about the blaze at Rimpa Plaza.
The fire started from the fourth floor of the 13-story building, the rescue service said, adding that difficulties were being faced to douse the fire “due to improper ventilation” in the building.
After a few hours of effort, the fire was successfully put off.
“The fire has been controlled and cooling work (extinguishing remaining hot spots) is underway,” Rescue 1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn.com. “No casualties have been reported.”
He said that the building mostly comprised godowns where spare parts of different machinery and raw materials for making tyres, among other things, had been stored. The building also housed shops, offices, and a clinic.
“The fire erupted in a shop on the 4th floor, which rapidly spread, engulfing the 4th floor initially and later on the 5th floor as well. Both floors were completely destroyed while the 6th and 7th floors were partially damaged,” he said.
Khan added that some short circuit failure was being suspected as the probable cause of the fire.
Earlier, the Karachi Traffic Police said in a statement that M.A. Jinnah Road had to be blocked for traffic near Saeed Manzil at 1:28pm due to the fire. It added that traffic was being diverted towards Regal Chowk and Gul Plaza.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the blaze, ordering immediate action to be taken to douse the fire. He also sought a detailed report from Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi.
CM Shah further ordered the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and other departments concerned to inspect buildings in order to stop such incidents.
Fire incidents are common in the metropolis due to the absence of adequate fire safety measures in buildings. A fire at a hotel situated on Sharea Faisal was doused last month.
Separately, a fire had erupted in a multi-storey commercial building off I.I. Chundrigar Road. This was followed by a huge fire in a warehouse in Model Colony on Sunday evening after a gas cylinder explosion.
In February this year, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) informed the Sindh High Court that it had conducted a fire safety audit of over 265 commercial buildings, and not a single one was found to have a fire safety certificate or a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by the fire brigade department.
Out of 265 buildings, around 155 did not have fire alarms and smoke detectors installed while the status of nine such buildings was not available in this respect, the KMC report added.
Similarly, the condition of the wiring and electric system of over 155 buildings was termed unsatisfactory. Regarding access to firefighting equipment, the report said that around 200 buildings had no or unsatisfactory firefighting equipment.
The SHC had directed provincial authorities to ensure that relevant teams inspect all shopping malls in the city to ascertain safety standards in place.
The bench expressed resentment over several fire-related incidents that recently occurred at shopping and commercial malls/buildings in the metropolis.
The court had passed such directives in a case related to a fire at a shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road last year. At least 11 people were killed while five others were injured after a blaze erupted inside the R.J. Shopping Mall because of a suspected short circuit.
