Four fire mishaps in different parts of city in last two days

At 10.10 am, the fire and rescue personnel were alerted after smoke began billowing from Dass India Tower located on Second Line Beach. The four-storeyed building housed banks, financial and logistics firms and a godown for leather bags in the basement. Seeing the thick smoke, a number of employees evacuated their offices and gathered on the terrace. Fire and rescue personnel from Esplanade, Washermenpet and Royapuram who were pressed into service used a skylift to rescue 11 stranded employees. 

The fire reportedly broke out at around 9.30 am and is suspected to have happened due to a short circuit inside the godown and spread to the surrounding areas. Nearly 35 firemen from Esplanade, Washermenpet and Royapuram with the help of three tenders put out the flames. 

Gokul Raj, an employee with Goodwill Commodities which is situated on the third floor said, ‘I had reached office by 9.30 am, I was on the third floor when I saw smoke coming from the building. All of us, rushed to the terrace for safety and we were later rescued by the fire and rescue personnel,” he said.

Shops on the Second Line Beach street remained shut following the incident and police cordoned off the area for a while on Friday morning, as thick smoke had clouded the building premises. The owner of the building lives on the third floor, opposite the Goodwill company.

In a separate incident, a fire broke out at Narayana Pharmaceuticals at Labour Colony in Guindy. A short circuit lead to a fire inside two rooms on the first floor of the three storeyed building at 11 am. 

The police said that the fire began inside a room where syringes and medicines were kept and spread to the next room that was used as an office space, following which, the employees of the building rushed to safety. The fire and rescue personnel from Guindy, Ashok Nagar, Teynampet and Raj Bhavan arrived at the spot and put out the fire by 1 pm. In another unrelated incident on Wall Tax Road at 2.30 am, a stolen vehicle erupted in flames, destroying three other parked vehicles. 

The police said, John Paul (24), a resident of Gandhiji Nagar in Pulianthope stole a TVS excel bike from Wall Tax Road. As the vehicle had no keys, he pushed it till Elephant Gates and plugged it into a switch board to charge the vehicle. It erupted in flames and subsequently, gutted two bikes and a four-wheeler that were parked nearby.

The police arrested John. On Thursday night, a car belonging to Sasikala Natarajan’s driver Megananthan (36) was mysteriously gutted in a fire. The police said, Meganathan had parked his Santro outside his house on Lloyd’s Road in Royapettah when it caught fire. A fire and rescue team from Teynampet put out the fire.