NEW DELHI: A massive fire ripped through a furniture market in northeast Delhi's Shastri Park, gutting several shops and causing losses worth lakhs of rupees, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said on Saturday.
Angry locals pelted stones at fire tenders during the firefighting operation over alleged delay in response to the blaze, which broke out late on Friday night. The DFS, however, rejected the allegations.
Firefighting operations continued through the night. No casualties were reported in the incident, the officials said.
Visuals from the spot showed rows of shops reduced to ashes.
According to the DFS officials, the fire erupted at the furniture market near New Seelampur metro station and spread rapidly due to the presence of highly combustible material such as wooden furniture and plywood, a DFS official said.
A DFS official said the department received the information about the blaze at 11.57 pm and fire tenders were dispatched immediately.
"The fire was later categorised as a medium category blaze. Wooden furniture and plywood were the main combustible materials at the site. Nearly 25-26 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire," the official said.
At around 12.50 am, police assistance had to be sought after some members of the public hurled stones at firefighting teams during the operation, the official said.
Some claimed that the fire tenders reached the spot late, due to which traders suffered major financial losses ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
"The fire broke out around 11.15 pm and the fire tenders arrived almost an hour later. We do not know how the fire started in two shops. The entire market has been destroyed and only around 20 shops are left. Everyone has suffered huge losses. This is our festival time," a local resident told PTI.
He claimed that he reached the spot around 45 minutes after the fire broke out and by then, only two fire tenders had reached the market.
According to the officials, the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained and cooling operations are underway.